Adobe's year of executive shakeups will reach a key milestone in December after it chose Customer Experience President Anil Chakravarthy to be the company’s first new CEO in 18 years.

Chakravarthy, a former CEO of Informatica who joined Adobe in 2020, will take the reins from Shantanu Narayen, who will become executive chair, on 1 December after an almost six-month search for his successor.

He said: “I'm energized by the opportunity to fuel growth and drive Adobe's leadership in the next era of agentic software for creativity, productivity and customer experience… we are well positioned to achieve Adobe's next chapter of growth.”

The company’s shares sank more than 3% in pre-market trading following the appointment of the customer experience orchestration president and worldwide field operations lead.

Adobe’s executive recruitment problems will continue despite Chakravarthy’s new role, with Creativity and Productivity President David Wadhwani, who had been rumoured as a CEO candidate, announcing he was leaving the company to pursue “a few company ideas”.

All change at Adobe

Get the full story: Subscribe for free

Join peers managing over $100 billion in annual IT spend and subscribe to unlock full access to The Stack’s analysis and events.

Subscribe now

Already a member? Sign in