Adobe buys Behance

Adobe has bought Behance, the social media platform that enables creatives to showcase and share their work online. The social sharing site will be integrated in Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

Behance is privately held and claims over 1million members. Hugely popular and growing fast, Behance-powered sites have received more than 90million views in the past 30 days. Today there are over 3million projects hosted on the Behance platform.

In statement the New York based Behance team said: “Our team is thrilled to join Adobe and take Behance to the next level. We’ve been given an opportunity to influence creative work, careers, and the creative industry on a grand scale, and we intend to do just that.”

In it’s blog, Behance has moved to assuage users’ fears about what the takeover might mean. It promised to remain free to use and its pro-grade paid-for services will continue to operate. The existing Behance team will remain based in New York and “…all of our leaders across design, product, development, and community management will build out their teams as a result of this step.”

Explaining the move, David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Adobe said: “I believe the essence of the creative process is to inspire, engage and invoke emotion. With Behance and Creative Cloud, we’ll give you the power to not only create, but to collaborate and connect with a strong and vibrant community. I’d like to personally welcome the Behance team and community to the Adobe family.”

Sentiment among .net readers is split. Speaking on Twitter, @inbusinessuk commented: ”If it's anything like their approach to Eclispe/CFBuilder, they'll now change its logo, and ramp up the price.” Reader @cscouthey wrote: "Oh my god. Adobe buys @Behance. Great for them, congrats. But a big shame for everyone in the creative industry." More positively @jonaswrites offered: “Makes sense! Most people using Behance uses Adobe products. Great sales channel.”