MW Adobe needs a new CEO to make bold AI moves, and its choice could be revealed on Thursday

By Hannah Pedone

Analysts flag two internal candidates who are the most likely replacements for longtime leader Shantanu Narayen

Adobe will report fiscal second-quarter earnings on Thursday after the bell.

After having the same CEO for nearly two decades, Adobe is taking a different route at the top - and investors may soon see who has been chosen to lead the company through the artificial-intelligence era.

"What attracted me to Adobe 28 years ago was our leadership in creating new market categories [and] world-class products" outgoing CEO Shantanu Narayen wrote in a letter to employees in March.

His arrival at Adobe came at the dawn of software-as-a service, which at the time was a revolutionary shift toward monetizing software via subscription business models. Now Narayen is poised to step down at a time when the most extreme skeptics worry AI will render the software industry obsolete. And against that backdrop, Adobe's stock $(ADBE)$ has taken a beating recently, down over 30% so far this year.

Given all the doubts around Adobe, it's perhaps surprising that the company will likely go with an internal candidate to replace Narayen. But Piper Sandler analyst Billy Fitzsimmons explained to MarketWatch that while Adobe's CEO search includes both internal and external candidates, it's "largely expected" that the company will promote from within - namely David Wadhwani or Anil Chakravarthy.

Wadhwani is the former CEO of AppDynamics, and is currently president of Adobe's creativity and productivity unit. Chakravarthy is the former CEO of Informatica and now the president of Adobe's customer-experience orchestration business.

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Jefferies analyst Brent Thill wrote in a note that while a new CEO could cause some near-term "disruption," long-term investors may "reward bold strategic moves" that could improve the outlook for the company.

He wrote that the "right candidate" should have a strong background in Adobe's core creative and marketing business lines, proficiency in artificial intelligence and a "willingness to make bold moves" to transform the company in the age of AI.

He favors Wadhwani, noting his past experience as CEO of a public company and the fact that he "knows Adobe better than anyone," having spent two stints there and amassing nearly two decades of work experience in the process.

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Jay Woods, the chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, wrote in comments shared with MarketWatch that potential news of a change in leadership will be in the spotlight when the company reports earnings after Thursday's closing bell.

He noted that while the company has rolled out generative AI through its platforms including Photoshop, Creative Cloud and Acrobat, he believes "Wall Street wants proof that cheaper AI tools are not disrupting Adobe's creative moat."

He said the company likely needs a beat and raise and a "clearer AI story" in order to change investor sentiment.

"People are really thinking about what happens to the future of software... I think the bears have it all wrong," Narayen said in an April CNBC interview. He will remain the board chair.

-Hannah Pedone

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June 09, 2026 16:21 ET (20:21 GMT)

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