Key Highlights

  • Adobe named Anil Chakravarthy, a six-year company veteran, as its next president and chief executive, effective December 1.
  • Outgoing chief executive Shantanu Narayen, who announced his departure in March after more than 18 years leading the company, will transition to executive chair.
  • Chakravarthy currently serves as president of Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration Business and oversaw the creation of AI offerings including GenStudio and Adobe CX Enterprise.
  • Adobe shares have declined roughly 18% this year, on top of drops of 25% in 2024 and 21% in 2025, as investors weigh AI's potential threat to the company's core software business.

A Company Insider Takes the Helm

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) named Anil Chakravarthy as its next president and chief executive officer, tapping a six-year company insider to lead the software maker as it navigates intensifying competition from AI rivals. Chakravarthy will assume the role on December 1 and join Adobe's board of directors. He currently serves as president of Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations, having joined the company in January 2020 as executive vice president and general manager of the digital experience unit before expanding his responsibilities to include worldwide field operations later that year, and being elevated to president of digital experience and worldwide field operations by late 2021.

Outgoing chief executive Shantanu Narayen, who announced in March that he would step down after more than 18 years leading the company, will transition to executive chair. Narayen, who joined Adobe in 1998, said in a statement that he could not be more confident that Chakravarthy is the right person to lead Adobe's growth in an AI-driven era. Frank Calderoni, Adobe's lead independent director and head of the board's selection committee, said the board conducted a rigorous search before reaching a unanimous decision, crediting Chakravarthy with transforming and expanding the company's Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations through innovation-led growth over the past six and a half years.

A Track Record Built Around AI Products

Among his contributions at Adobe, Chakravarthy oversaw the creation of AI offerings including GenStudio and Adobe CX Enterprise, an agentic platform designed to orchestrate Marketing and customer lifecycle management. Prior to joining Adobe, he spent four years running Informatica, a cloud data management firm. Chakravarthy said in a statement that he is energized by the opportunity to fuel growth and drive Adobe's Leadership in what he described as the next era of agentic software for creativity, productivity and customer experience.

Separately, David Wadhwani, who had run Adobe's creativity and productivity division and had been seen as a potential candidate for the chief executive role, announced his departure from the company.

A Stock Under Pressure From AI Concerns

Adobe stock has lost about 18% this year, adding to a 25% decline in 2024 and a 21% drop in 2025, as investors continue to worry that AI poses a genuine threat to the company's core software business. Adobe shares were down around 2% in after-hours trading following the leadership announcement. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter fiscal 2026 Earnings on September 10.

Conclusion

The leadership transition places Chakravarthy, whose most visible contributions at Adobe have centered on the company's AI-driven product lines, directly in charge of steering the broader business through a period of sustained investor skepticism about whether Adobe's traditional software Franchise can hold up against AI-native competitors. Whether his track record building agentic AI tools within Adobe translates into a broader turnaround in investor sentiment will likely become clearer once the company reports its next quarterly results.