Adobe is losing another top executive, and investors don't like it

Dow Jones
Jun 12

MW Adobe is losing another top executive, and investors don't like it

By Hannah Pedone

Software company's stock falls in Thursday's extended trading, after closing the regular session at the lowest price in more than seven years

Shares of Adobe sank in Thursday's extended trading after the company announced its CFO will leave the company.

A bad day for Adobe's stock got even worse on Thursday after the company said another top executive was leaving, overshadowing an upbeat earnings report.

The software giant announced late Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Dan Durn will depart the company on June 15 after nearly five years in the role, for a "new professional opportunity." Steve Day, senior vice president of corporate finance and CFO of Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration business unit, will serve as interim CFO. Day has worked at Adobe for over two decades.

Investors expressed their disappointment, as the departure comes just three months after the company said CEO Shantanu Narayen will be stepping down after 18 years in the job after a successor is named.

Shares of Adobe $(ADBE)$ dropped 5.9% in Thursday's after-hours session. The stock had slumped 6.3% during the regular session to suffer a fifth straight loss.

The new leadership change comes during a period of investor skepticism in the defensibility of software as a service. Investors fear artificial intelligence will render the products of design-software companies like Adobe unviable.

Adobe's stock has tumbled 37.5% in 2026, and it closed Thursday at its lowest price since Jan. 3, 2019.

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Against that backdrop, news of the leadership shift seemed to overshadow upbeat earnings results for the company.

The company raised its revenue guidance for the fiscal year 2026 to a range of $26.50 billion to $26.60 billion from its previous guide of $25.9 billion to $26.1 billion. Analysts were expecting $26.1 billion on average, according to FactSet.

Second-quarter 2026 revenue came in at $6.62 billion, up 13% from the prior-year period. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting $6.45 billion.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $5.96 for the fiscal second quarter, while analysts were expecting $5.82.

The company looked to assure investors that another change in management won't be too much of a disruption, as interim CFO Day is a longtime company veteran.

"Steve has been a key member of our finance organization for two decades, and his deep understanding of Adobe's business will be critical as we execute our strategy to deliver AI innovations to a broader set of customers across creativity, productivity and customer experience orchestration," Narayen said in a statement.

"I want to thank Dan for leading the finance organization that will support Adobe's next chapter of growth in the AI era, and wish him all the best," he added.

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-Hannah Pedone

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June 11, 2026 18:00 ET (22:00 GMT)

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