Shantanu Narayen to become Adobe chief

Graphics software major Adobe Systems chief executive Bruce Chizen announced on Monday 12 November that he would step down as the head of the company on 1 December. Chizen will be replaced by the company''s present president and chief operating officer Shantanu Narayen.

Chizen''s spent nearly seven years at the helm of the media software company, notching up a number of great successes. Its software platforms - Acrobat for making PDF files, and Flash for displaying videos - are everywhere, owing to the rise of Web 2.0 companies like Google''s YouTube and Yahoo''s Flickr.

The CEO has opted to leave the company when the going is good. Third-quarter revenue is up 40 per cent from the previous year. Adobe expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be near the high end of the previously disclosed range of $860 million to $890 million. Besides, the company is targeting an overall revenue growth for fiscal 2008 to be about 13 per cent.

His role in leading Adobe through a $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia in 2005 gave Chizen a high profile in Silicon Valley. He is often asked to talk publicly about the future of software companies in the Internet age. Adobe''s success - a paid software company thriving in an era when nearly all consumer software is free and supported by advertising - is commendable.

Adobe''s future is now tied to Web 2.0 companies and technologies. The company is planning to launch a Web version of its popular photo-editing software Photoshop by the end of the year.