Adobe is naming Anil Chakravarthy as CEO as Shantanu Narayen steps aside.

  • Anil Chakravarthy will become CEO on Dec. 1, with Shantanu Narayen becoming executive chair. 
  • Chakravarthy has strong industry experience, but investors remain worried about AI threats and Adobe’s declining stock. 
  • Barclays lifted Adobe’s price target to $295, citing strong web traffic and pricing benefits.

Adobe Inc. (ADBE) stock is drawing attention as the company named Anil Chakravarthy, head of its Customer Experience Orchestration business, as its next president and CEO. He succeeds Shantanu Narayen, who will become executive chair. The move comes just a week before Adobe's fiscal third-quarter (Q3) earnings report. 

Adobe stock traded over 1% lower overnight Thursday and is headed for a weekly loss. 

AI Pressure Awaits Adobe’s New CEO 

On Thursday, Adobe's board said Chakravarthy will become CEO and join the board effective Dec. 1, while Narayen transitions to executive chair to support the handoff. Narayen announced his planned departure last March after roughly two decades running the company.

Under Chakravarthy, Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration unit developed products including Adobe CX Enterprise, GenStudio and Brand Visibility, and he oversaw the integration of the Workfront and Semrush acquisitions. Before joining Adobe, he spent four years as CEO of Informatica and earlier held executive roles at Symantec, VeriSign and McKinsey & Company.

The leadership change comes at a critical time for Adobe as investors worry that generative AI could reduce demand for its main Creative Cloud and Document Cloud products. Adobe shares fell 20% in 2025 and another 18% so far this year, putting extra focus on the company’s next phase. 

Barclays Raises Adobe Price Target Ahead Of Results 

The software giant is slated to report Q3 earnings next week on Sept.10. Analysts see $6.69 billion in revenue with $6.09 per share earnings, according to Fiscal.ai data. 

On Thursday, Barclays raised Adobe’s price target to $295 from $250 while keeping an ‘Equal Weight’ rating ahead of Q3 results. The firm expects strong website traffic and some pricing benefits to support new recurring revenue, but sees limited pricing help in Q4.

What ADBE Retail Traders Are Saying 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock remained in ‘neutral’ territory. 

A user said, “Seems like a logical CEO selection. Always remember, there is nothing (so far) fundamentally wrong with the company, but the narrative has not been kind.” 

Another user said, “New CEO has been announced; it's an internal replacement, which I like due to aligning synergies. Still deeply undervalued and excited for the earnings next week.”

However, another user posted: “There is no way to spin this CEO pick as anything but bad news. If he was a great candidate for the role, he would have been nominated months ago.” 

“Instead, it seems ADBE tried and failed to entice a star outsider to take the reins. That doesn’t paint a picture of a company executing on all cylinders with a bright future ahead, sorry.”

ADBE stock has declined 18% year-to-date. 

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