Adobe Systems Inc. (əˈdoʊbiː), is an American
multinational computer software company headquartered in
San Jose, California, United States. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards
rich Internet application software development.
Adobe was founded in December 1982 by
John Warnock and
Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving
Xerox PARC in order to develop and sell the
PostScript page description language. In 1985,
Apple Computer licensed PostScript for use in its
LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the
desktop publishing revolution. The company name
Adobe comes from
Adobe Creek in
Los Altos, California, which ran behind the houses of both of the company's founders. Adobe acquired its former competitor,
Macromedia, in December 2005, which added newer software products and platforms such as
ColdFusion,
Dreamweaver,
Flash and
Flex to its product portfolio.
As of 2010, Adobe Systems has 9,117 employees, about 40% of whom work in San Jose. Adobe also has major development operations in
Orlando; Seattle; San Francisco;
Lehi, Utah;
Minneapolis;
Waltham, Massachusetts; and
San Luis Obispo, California in the United States;
Ottawa, Canada;
Hamburg, Germany;
Noida and
Bangalore, India;
Bucharest, Romania;
Basel, Switzerland; and
Beijing, China.