Adobe in Russia

2024: Public procurement of Adobe software is preserved in Russia

On June 28, 2024, it became known that despite the course towards import substitution, Russian government agencies and companies continue to purchase software from the American company Adobe. For the period from July 2023 to June 2024, 28 such purchases were carried out for a total amount of 21.5 million rubles.

According to the Tenderplan search and analytical system, among the organizations that purchased Adobe products were St. Petersburg State University (St. Petersburg State University)]], Mediascop JSC and the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At the same time, purchases included not only standard software, but also Adobe cloud services.

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According to the general director of Tenderplan Maxim Kuznetsov, some state institutions purchased means of automatically synchronizing work files with online storage with a capacity of 100 GB, the servers of which are probably located in the United States or Europe.

The Ministry of Digital Development noted that such purchases are of a single nature and do not affect significant objects of critical information infrastructure. Nevertheless, from 2025 it is planned to introduce a complete ban on the use of foreign software at such facilities.

As Dmitry Kalaev, director of the accelerator of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, explained, Russian analogues exist, but it is difficult for them to achieve the level of complexity, convenience and refinement of original products.

The company has been investing tens of millions of dollars in its products for years, our companies do not have so many resources, "Dmitry Kalaev emphasized.

To justify the procurement of foreign software, state-owned companies refer to the lack of full-fledged domestic analogues. For example, St. Petersburg State University in its procurement documentation indicated that programs from the register of Russian or Eurasian software do not meet the established requirements for the software planned for purchase.^[1]

2023

Free renewal of licenses to individuals in Russia

On May 30, 2023, it became known that Adobe automatically extends licenses to Russian users for free due to difficulties with payment using bank cards in the Russian Federation.

As an employee of one of the Russian IT companies told TASS, user licenses that were purchased through the official Adobe online store have the ability to auto-renew after linking the card. He suggested that the free renewal could be presented by the company as a gift to customers who cannot use the card to pay abroad in order to maintain loyalty and support their users during a difficult period. The interlocutor stressed that auto-extension is not provided for corporate licenses.

Adobe automatically renews licenses to Russian users for free due to payment difficulties

Another insider stressed that the possibility of auto-extension became available at the end of December 2022. At the same time, it is impossible to purchase a new subscription - you can only renew the old one. The information was also confirmed earlier by the general director of the game studio Ninsar.Games Yegor Sechinsky at one of the sessions of the Russian Internet Forum.

Anna Sarbukova, a leading legal adviser to the intellectual property practice of the EBR law firm, suggested that the subscription to the Adobe package is being renewed without payment, since the user may have activated the automatic license renewal function.

Many vendors use this option: when a user first buys a license, at the end of its initial validity period, the license is automatically renewed for the next period and money is automatically debited from the user's card if the user's payment information is up to date. However, if the client is an individual, then it is possible to make payment only from bank cards issued not in Russia or Belarus, "Sarbukova emphasized.[2]

Returning access to the site and downloading software

In January 2023, Adobe opened access to Russian users to download part of its software from the company's official website in Russian. The TAdviser journalist was personally convinced of this.

You can go to the company's website without using VPN services, you can officially download Photoshop, Premier, Acrobat, Illustrator, Adobe Creative Cloud and a number of free products from it. However, the site does not indicate the cost of subscribing to programs for Russians. When you try to buy any program, the message appears: "The purchase could not be completed because transactions in your region (RU) are currently limited." When trying to buy a program through Adobe Creative Cloud, the user is redirected to the company's website with the inscription: "Adobe has suspended all new sales of goods and services in Russia."

Adobe has opened access to Russian users to download part of its software from the official website

Softline (owns the right to sell Adobe products in Russia) confirmed to the publication that the purchase of new licenses for Adobe Creative Cloud by the end of January 2023 is impossible, and only corporate clients can extend the current subscription.

The publication notes that users are forced to look for workarounds to continue their work. For example, create foreign accounts, buy a license for programs on them and pay for subscriptions using bank cards issued in other countries.

Telecom Daily CEO Denis Kuskov, in a conversation with Izvestia, suggested that the opening of access to Adobe software may be due to the fact that not only Russians, but also offices of foreign companies that work in the Russian Federation fell under restrictions. This could prevent the company from fulfilling commercial obligations.

Adobe is indeed available for download in Russia. I think the reason is that the company is systematically changing its approach to its business in the Russian Federation, since sooner or later it will be necessary to return, "Eldar Murtazin, an analyst at Mobile Research Group, told the newspaper.[3]

2022

Adobe opens license renewal for existing customers in Russia

On April 21, 2022, it became known that Adobe allowed to renew previously purchased licenses of the company's products for existing customers in Russia. In particular, licenses can be extended in the Softline Store online store, Softline (Adobe's official partner in the Russian Federation) told TASS.

Adobe in Russia allows the renewal of licenses for existing customers. The information was published on the vendor's official blog. All corporate users of the VIP sales channel in Russia have access to the extension of existing Adobe licenses, only new purchases and expansion of existing contracts are temporarily limited. In the Softline Store online store, you can renew your licenses and contact Adobe for basic technical support for Softline, - said in a statement to Softline.

Adobe surrendered first and opened license renewal to existing customers in Russia

The company's press service recommended renewing licenses for Adobe products in advance so as not to lose access to them. When buying, the vendor may request additional verification due to sanctions, it can take from 2 to 10 working days, said Polina Krasikova, head of Adobe at Softline. Renewal becomes available 30 days before the console date.

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Adobe officially stopped selling in the Russian Federation. It was reported that in Russia it will no longer be possible to buy a video editing program Premiere Pro, photo editors Photoshop and Lightroom, as well as access other services of the company, including cloud ones. Access to Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud for Russian state media has also been terminated.^[4]

The cessation of sales of products in Russia after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine and the rise in software prices in the world

On March 22, 2022, Adobe announced that it would be forced to raise prices for its products around the world due to its withdrawal from the Russian market. According to the company's estimates, its cessation of work in the Russian Federation and Belarus will lead to a reduction in annual recurring revenues (ARR) in fiscal 2022 by $75 million. In addition, the manufacturer of graphics software does not count about $12 million of such revenue in Ukraine.

As explained by Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, the losses are due to the fact that the company will not be able to receive payments in Russia and Belarus. However, the losses will be small - only about 0.5% of the total revenue expected in fiscal 2022.

Adobe said it will be forced to raise prices for its products around the world due to withdrawal from the Russian market

Amid a weak financial outlook and a warning of rising prices for its products and services, Adobe shares fell about 10% on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. A number of analysts, including employees of Deutsche Bank and Piper Sandler, lowered their forecasts for vendor quotes.

On March 4, 2022, Adobe decided to join other foreign companies and stop the sale of its products and the provision of services in Russia. This was stated by Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

In addition, the company will close access to a number of services - Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud - for Russian media controlled by the state. The list of these publications is not specified.

Narayen explained this decision by the company's desire to comply with the sanctions imposed by the authorities of the United States, Great Britain and the European Union. This will allow Adobe to make sure that its products and services are not used by organizations that have fallen under restrictions.

At the same time, Adobe does not leave Ukraine, but admits that what is happening in the country may affect the interest of Ukrainian citizens in its products.^[5]

2015:60 partners in Russia

According to the Adobe website, by December 2015, more than 60 companies are partners of the company in Russia, including Softkey, Softline and SysSoft.

Adobe distributors in Russia: Mont, DNA Soft and Dinasoft (Dynasoft).

2014: Reduction of employees and closure of office in Russia

In January 2014, Adobe issued an order to reduce about half of its positions in its Russian representative office, a source close to the company told TAdviser. As of the beginning of the year, according to him, the total staff of the company in Russia was about 20 people.

The reduction affects not only the Adobe office in Moscow, but also employees in Kazan and Yekaterinburg, says the interlocutor of TAdviser. First of all, it applies to employees responsible for working with partners and for the direction of Digital Marketing, which provides tools for online advertising, he adds.

According to the source of the publication, at the end of 2013, the reduction also affected the Adobe Department for Countering Intellectual Piracy. In this case, it affected, first of all, employees of the telesales service, who inform company representatives about the risks of using illegal software and the advantages of using legal software.

The Russian representative office of Adobe itself did not confirm or deny information about the reduction of employees. "The company has no comment on this matter," Adobe officials said.

The interlocutor of TAdviser connects the beginning of the cuts in the Russian state Adobe with a decrease in the company's sales in emerging markets: for example, in 2013 Adobe also reduced offices in Dubai (UAE) and Istanbul (Turkey), he says. Earlier, in 2012, Adobe also announced the closure of a sales office in Taiwan.

It is worth noting that at the end of 2011, Adobe in Russia^[6] was^[6] with high sales growth in the country and called Russia, as well as Turkey, South Africa and the Middle East, one of the focal markets for the company.

At the same time, Adobe spoke about its intentions in 2012-2013. increase investments in Russia by 2-3 times and direct them, including to expand the staff and geographical presence in the country. According to a TAdviser source close to the company, the expansion of the staff did take place, but subsequently came to naught, since the place of people who quit the company practically stopped recruiting new ones.

In September 2014, it became known that the Russian subsidiary of Adobe - Adob Systems LLC - on September 16, 2014 filed a notice with the Federal Tax Service on the liquidation of the legal entity, follows from the information on the service's website. On September 24, the company was deregistered. I inform you that Adobe is leaving Russia, confirmed Matvei Kireev, an employee of the PR agency Buman Media, which represents Adobe in the Russian market.

Adobe is in the process of completely liquidating its representative office in Russia, but users will still be able to buy Adobe products and services through the website of Adobe.com and resellers, Kireev said. Adobe has been actively developing Creative Cloud and Marketing Cloud services over the past few years, switching from a perpetual cloud subscription license model, he explains. The company is adjusting its activities in Russia and focusing on the sale of products with the help of Russian partners and the company's website, Kireev said. Kireev could not tell whether the introduction of cloud technology was reflected in the work of the company's branches in other countries.

At the same time, it also became known that the Russian authorities are going to create a special fund for the development of domestic software, to which they want to oblige program manufacturers to transfer up to 10% of the proceeds from the sale of software licenses in Russia. Kireev refused to say whether the liquidation of the office in Russia would allow not to pay money to this future fund. According to a source in the ministry, not all the details have been worked out and there is no complete clarity on how and from whom exactly funds will be charged to the new fund. But the idea is to impose fees only on electronic licenses for software products that are not subject to VAT in Russia.

The Creative Cloud service provides the user with cloud access to the company's products - Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator. You can access this service by paying for a monthly subscription to a package of products on the site, the cost of which is from $10 to $50, depending on the configuration (in the official Adobe store, the latest version of Photoshop costs about $800). An application is installed on the buyer's computer that needs access Internet to to check the license and download updates once a month. The service also offers users from 2 GB of storage in the Adobe cloud. The company recently boasted about how quickly Creative Cloud is gaining popularity. In the second quarter of 2014 alone, its audience increased by 464,000 customers - up to 2,308 million. And by the end of 2015, Adobe expects to increase the number of its users to 4 million^[7].

The market participant assumes that Adobe's departure from Russia is associated not only with cloud technologies: due to sanctions, the company fell through several transactions in Russia, in addition, Adobe was not ready for the entry into force of amendments to the law "On the protection of personal data," which prohibit the processing of personal data of Russians abroad from September 1, 2016. In September 2014, the company fired people - the first wave took place back in January, after which 12 people remained in the office, he says.

2013: Arseniy Tarasov leaves the company, Klyuchnikov - head of representative office

Arseny Tarasov worked as the head of the Russian Adobe until the summer of 2013, after which he moved to work in the Russian office of Microsoft as director of the department for work with large organizations and partners. At the time of his departure from the company, the candidacy for the post of new head of the Adobe representative office was not determined.

In September 2013, Daniil Klyuchnikov was appointed CEO of the Russian representative office of Adobe Systems

2011: New CEO - Arseniy Tarasov

In 2011, Arseniy Tarasov, who previously headed Siemens Enterprise Communications for Russia and the CIS, was appointed CEO of Adobe in Russia. In December 2012, he was promoted to Adobe Regional Manager for Russia, CIS, Turkey and the Middle East.

2010: Prices for Russia are higher than in the USA

Russian users have long noticed that prices for the same software products in Russia and the United States often differ by several hundred dollars not in our favor. CNews decided to understand the reasons for such a significant difference on the example of Adobe, the manufacturer of popular Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, etc.

For comparison, electronic versions of Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended and After Effects CS5 were taken. The cost of each of them, when purchased through the official Adobe website in the United States, is $999 (30,369 rubles at the current exchange rate). Russia is not listed in the list of countries whose residents have the opportunity to purchase products on the official Adobe website, since here the company is not engaged in direct sales, but works through partners. One of the resellers, Softkey, has a cost of 38,379 rubles for these licenses. Thus, the difference in prices between Russia and the United States reaches 27%.

Adobe CEO in Russia and the CIS, Alexander Potapov, told CNews that this difference consists solely of the markup of the partner channel - distributors and resellers.

The chain looks like this, explains Felix Muchnik, CEO of Softkey: the developer sets the recommended price for his distributors, and those, in turn, taking into account the taxes and estimated margins of their partners, set it for sellers. "It is incorrect to say that the final price for the final buyer is set by the partner - that is, we," he concludes.

Alexander Potapov confirms: Adobe distributors give an entry price, and they, in turn, determine the price for resellers. But the profit received by distributors, according to the head of the Russian office of Adobe, is minimal.

Adobe has three distributors in Russia: Mont, DNA Soft and DynaSoft. In the latter, CNews said that it was Adobe that set prices in a particular country, and they suggested checking this by going, for example, to the British or French version of the company's website. Indeed, in the UK, After Effects CS5 is sold for £873 (41,292 rubles).

"In the USA, Russia and the European Union, there are completely different distribution price lists, so comparing prices with us and in the USA is absolutely incorrect and meaningless: initially, by definition, they cannot be the same or even close," says Boris Arzhakov, Adobe product licensing specialist DynaSoft.

But, according to Alexander Potapov, Adobe's own price does not differ so significantly between Russia and the United States: on average, no more than 1-2%.

A source at one of the distribution companies says that their mark-up on Adobe products does not exceed 10%. Thus, the cost of Photoshop CS5 Extended, taking into account the distributor's margin, can be about 33,405 rubles. If so, then almost 5000 rubles. from the sale of each product Adobe remains with a reseller - a store selling software directly to the buyer.

Resellers agree that their margins should be greater than distributors. But, according to Viktor Algazin, sales director of Softline, the classic scheme assumes that the distributor has 3-5%, and in practice this figure may differ significantly. Softline's margin for Adobe products, he said, is 8-10%.

The situation with prices in Russia could change if Adobe opened its own trade office in Russia. Thus, two links would disappear from the finite value chain. But, according to Alexander Potapov, so far the company has no such plans. "Almost all software vendors work through partners," he says. - Adobe Systems is no exception, such is the business model adopted in the world, such is the business reality at present. We hope that it will change soon. "

2009: Dismissal of CEO Pavel Cherkashin

On September 24, 2009, it became known that Pavel Cherkashin, CEO of Adobe Systems in Russia, Ukraine and the CIS, was leaving his post. Temporarily, his duties will be performed by Alexander Potapov, who holds the position of sales director. Adobe CNews said that the new head of the representative office is likely to be appointed after the candidacy of the head of the company throughout the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) is approved. This should happen "in the near future," the decision will be made at the level of the European office.

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