Adobe to spend $90 million on Utah expansion, add up to 1,260 new jobs

Tech giant Adobe Inc. will spend $90 million to construct a new building and expand space in its current facility along Interstate 15 in Lehi and will add up to 1,260 high-paying jobs, state officials said Thursday.

That number of jobs would about double the Utah workforce of the San Jose, Calif., company known for its graphics and design software and its Photoshop editing program. The company has about 17,000 employees worldwide and reported revenue of $4.58 billion in its 2016 fiscal year.

The Governor's Office of Economic Development said it is extending an incentive of up $25.7 million to Adobe, which consists of a rebate of up to 30 percent of new state taxes expected to be generated by the expansion over 20 years.

Also on Thursday, Adobe announced an expansion of its headquarters in San Jose, where it is in the process of buying downtown land for a new office tower.

Adobe's presence in Utah is due to its 2009 purchase of Omniture, a web analytics company that formed the basis of a new Digital Marketing division largely based in Lehi.

In 2012, it opened a prominent $107 million, 280,000-square-foot building that at that time had more than 1,000 employees. Now, that building is full and the company continues to grow, said Jonathan Francom, an Adobe vice president over facilities.

"So we came to a pivotal point, an inflection point for us and a decision point about whether or not we again double down [in Utah] or decide to grow in some of our great facilities globally," Francom said. "And in partnership with the state and incentives provided, it's a great opportunity for us to roll it forward, to do it again."

Now, the company will construct a "Phase 2" building to the south of its existing building, which received a $40 million tax rebate offer from the state.

The company projects its new jobs will pay around 300 percent of the average Utah County wage of $39,509, for a total of $2.3 billion in new wages over 20 years.

Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of Utah, said in a news release that the company's "continued investment in Utah is a sign of our tech community's bright future."

New state revenues from Adobe, including corporate, payroll and sales taxes, are estimated at $85.8 million over two decades — with the company eligible for a return of up to about $25.7 million of that. Rebates will be earned annually if Adobe meets hiring goals. Unlike other states, Utah does not release the annual goals set under the tax incentive deals and will not reveal whether companies meet them.

In fiscal 2016, Adobe Digital Marketing had revenues of $1.18 billion, or 25.7 percent of Adobe's 2016 revenue. Overall, Adobe reported net income of $1.17 billion in its fiscal year that ended on Dec. 2, 2016.

Francom said no plans were yet available for the new Lehi building so he couldn't provide details about the design or square footage.

Besides new Digital Marketing employees, the company likely will be hiring for new positions that serve other parts of Adobe, such as accounting and legal, he said.

tharvey@sltrib.com