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Today at a glance:
🎨 Adobe: 100M Free Creators
🐶 Chewy: Treats Get Cut
📈 WealthFront: Assets Outrun Revenue
1. 🎨 Adobe: 100M Free Creators
Adobe Q3 revenue rose 13% Y/Y to $6.8 billion ($60 million beat), with non-GAAP EPS of $6.13 ($0.04 beat). Total ARR grew 11% Y/Y to $27.5 billion. Margins expanded, while operating cash flow hit a Q3 record of $2.5 billion.
Creative freemium MAU surpassed 100 million, up more than 70% Y/Y, while Adobe crossed 1 billion total monthly active users. AI-first ARR also climbed above $650 million, growing more than 150% Y/Y, but still only 2% of the total.
The audience growth comes with a near-term tradeoff. Management acknowledged that the shift toward freemium contributed to slower net new ARR and RPO growth, as Adobe prioritizes acquisition and engagement before monetization. Agentic products and credit-based AI usage remain the main path to converting that engagement into revenue.
Adobe also named Anil Chakravarthy as its next CEO, effective December 1, with Shantanu Narayen moving to Executive Chair. Chakravarthy currently leads Adobe’s Customer Experience business, signaling continuity around the push toward AI-powered workflows across creative and enterprise products.
Adobe raised FY26 revenue guidance slightly to $26.58–$26.63 billion (from $26.50–$26.60 billion). Q4 revenue guidance was slightly below expectations, sending shares modestly lower.
Bottom Line: Adobe is proving it can still attract users in the AI era. The harder part is converting them. Freemium creative users have now crossed 100 million and AI-first ARR is growing rapidly, but total ARR is still expanding only around 11%. The next phase of the story is monetization rather than adoption.