Adobe Buys EchoSign--Makes Digital Signatures Mainstream

Adobe announced that it has acquired EchoSign--a provider of electronic signature and signature automation tools. Adobe is almost a decade late getting into this game, but the strength and recognition of the Adobe brand may help drive more mainstream adoption of the technology.


I hate faxing. When a business wants to send me a fax, or asks me to fax something to them, I am compelled to remind them that this is 2011. I am happy to print, sign, scan, and email something--but I don't do faxing. What's even better, though, is to cut out the printing and scanning steps, and just sign documents electronically and send them on their way.

For many, the Adobe announcement signals a new era--a step forward in the quest for paperless workflow and contracts. But, the concept is not new. DocuSign has been providing electronic signing services since 2004, and EchoSign itself has been around for a number of years as well.

Regardless of the timing, Adobe has grand plans for EchoSign. "We see the majority of contracts being signed on the web in four to five years--up from one percent today," said Kevin Lynch, Vice President and General Manager of Acrobat Solutions, and Digital Enterprise Solutions for Adobe, adding, "Printing out paper, signing with a pen, and faxing or sending it in an overnight envelope will not be the way of the future and in the coming years will feel as antiquated as using film for photos."

EchoSign is an established player in the field with over 35,000 paid subscribers, and more than 3 million users. EchoSign customers include Groupon, Facebook, Dell, Pandora, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Aetna, BT, and many other globally recognized names.

Jason Lemkin, CEO of EchoSign elaborates, "We intend to accelerate EchoSign's growth through broader awareness and integration with Adobe's existing document technology, including the more than 500 million users of Adobe Reader." Lemkin also believes that there will be benefits to existing EchoSign customers with the integration of Adobe tools and resources.

For some, though, tying digital signatures to Adobe's proprietary tools may be an issue. The diverse product portfolio at Adobe may get in the way of maximizing the potential for digital document signing as well.

DocuSign is a leader in digital document signing--and the primary competitor for Adobe and EchoSign. DocuSign Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Tom Gonser, says, "We feel that as a neutral best-of-class provider of electronic contracting we are more able to span the market than an electronic signature component tied only to one technology."

As established as EchoSign is, DocuSign essentially created the market in the first place. It has been doing electronic signatures since 2003, and--according to Compete.com--eight out of ten documents that are signed electronically today are managed through DocuSign. DocuSign claims that more than 8 million DocuSigners have signed more than 70 million documents in more than 50 countries--and new DocuSign users are being added at the brisk pace of 30,000 per weekday.

Gonser explains, "DocuSign provides full forms management, signer authentication, data collection, signature capture, workflow automation and document storage--all in the cloud. EchoSign has not developed a complete solution for large business, severely limiting their market opportunities to small simple business applications."

Hopefully with both Adobe and DocuSign driving things, we will see much wider adoption of electronic signatures. Adobe is a trusted brand that lends some street cred to the concept of digital document signing, and should help bring it into more mainstream use.

Japan, Australia Stock Futures Fall on U.S., Europe Debt Crisis

Japanese and Australian stock futures fell on concern U.S. lawmakers will fail to reach a deal on the country’s debt limit two weeks before a deadline and Europe’s worsening crisis will slow the global economic recovery.

American depositary receipts of Nissan Motor Co., a Japanese automaker that gets one third of its revenue in North America, declined 1.1 percent from the closing share price in Tokyo on July 15 after stress tests on European banks failed to alleviate investor concern over the region’s debt woes. Those of Canon Inc., which counts Europe as its largest market, declined 1.2 percent. ADRs of BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest mining company and Australia’s No. 1 oil producer, retreated 1.4 percent in Sydney after oil pricesdeclined.

Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average expiring in September closed at 9,870 in Chicago yesterday, compared with 9,970 in Osaka, Japan, on July 15. They were bid in the pre- market at 9,900 in Osaka at 8:05 a.m. local time. Markets were closed in Japan yesterday for a holiday. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.5 percent today. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index declined 0.5 percent in Wellington.

“On top of uncertainty about the U.S. economy, there can only be negativity if the U.S. governments’ functionality becomes paralyzed,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities Co. in Tokyo. “In Europe, the stress tests are being seen as too soft, and it’s just postponing the potential for problems.”

Global Decline

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. In New York, the index slipped 0.8 percent to 1,305.44 yesterday, pushing the measure to its worst seven-day period in more than a month, amid concern U.S. lawmakers will fail to reach a deal on the nation’s debt limit two weeks before an Aug. 2 deadline.

Global stocks declined amid President Barack Obama’s efforts to get lawmakers to agree to a deficit-cutting deal as the deadline for raising the debt ceiling nears. U.S. equities have been under pressure amid growing concern lawmakers will fail to reach an agreement to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Shares also declined after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists led by Jan Hatzius, based in Germany, cut their forecasts for real U.S. economic growth to 1.5 percent in the second quarter and 2.5 percent in the third quarter, from 2 percent and 3.25 percent respectively.

Stress Tests

European shares declined yesterday on concern the region’s banks may have to raise as much as 80 billion euros ($113 billion) of additional capital as stress tests failed to allay investor concern about a Greek default and governments’ ability to bail out their lenders.

The European Banking Authority said after the close of trading on July 15 that eight of the 90 banks had failed the stress tests. Regulators didn’t include a Greek default in the tests even though credit default swaps indicate investors see an almost 90 percent chance of one.

Crude oil for August delivery dropped １.4 percent to settle at $95.93 a barrel in New York yesterday. Oil futures have risen 26 percent in the past year.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.9 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a gain of 3.8 percent by the S&P 500 and a drop of 5 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index in the same period. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.5 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.1 times for the S&P 500 and 10.5 times for the Stoxx 600.

Obama picks former Ohio attorney general to head consumer agency

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Sunday that he would nominate Richard Cordray, the former attorney general of Ohio, to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, passing over Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law professor who was the driving force behind the agency's creation.

Cordray came to national attention for his aggressive investigations of mortgage-foreclosure practices while he was attorney general. He had already joined the watchdog agency, which starts formal operations on Thursday, as the leader of its enforcement division.

The decision to pass over Warren — who conceived the bureau, championed its creation and orchestrated its establishment for the last year as a White House adviser — reflects political realities.

Her candidacy was passionately supported by liberal members of Congress and consumer advocacy groups. But she never won the full support of the president or his senior advisers, particularly Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in part because of her independence and outspokenness, which at times put her at odds with the administration.

Also, since last year Obama has been trying to rebuild relations with the business community after the fights early in his term over health-care and financial regulations. And Republicans have vowed to block her nomination because they say that her criticisms of the banking industry showed a lack of fairness.

Putting a director in place is critical because the agency will not gain the full measure of its powers until the Senate confirms a nominee. The agency will be able to supervise the compliance of banks with existing laws, but the Dodd-Frank financial legislation that created the agency dictates that it cannot write new rules or supervise other financial companies without a director.

Republicans made clear on Sunday that they were no more likely to confirm Cordray than Warren. Forty-four Republican senators have signed a letter saying they would refuse to vote on any nominee to lead the bureau, demanding instead that Democrats agree to overhaul the agency's management structure to replace a single leader with a board of directors.

"Until President Obama addresses our concerns by supporting a few reasonable structural changes, we will not confirm anyone to lead it," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who is the ranking member on the Banking Committee, said Sunday in a written statement. "No accountability, no confirmation."

Some of Warren's supporters expressed support for Cordray.

"Elizabeth Warren was the best qualified to lead this bureau that she conceived — and we imagine Richard Cordray would agree," said Stephanie Taylor, a consumer advocate who led an online campaign that collected 350,000 signatures on a petition calling for the president to nominate Warren. "That said, Rich Cordray has been a strong ally of Elizabeth Warren's, and we hope he will continue her legacy of holding Wall Street accountable."

Warren plans to return to teaching at Harvard in the fall, an administration official said.

Cordray, 52, joined the consumer bureau in December after narrowly losing a re-election bid for Ohio attorney general to Michael DeWine, a Republican who suggested during the campaign that Cordray was anti-business.

In an interview at the time, Cordray described his new federal job as a layover, saying, "I do expect to be running for office in the next cycle."

After more than a decade in private practice and local political office, Cordray won a special election in 2008 to become Ohio's attorney general and soon started a series of high-profile investigations of financial companies.

He accused the insurance company Marsh & McLennan of publishing fictitious quotes to suppress competition. He accused credit-ratings agencies of overstating the value of mortgage-backed securities, resulting in massive losses for their investors, including Ohio pension funds. He accused Bank of America of acquiring Merrill Lynch without telling investors the full extent of the investment bank's problems.

Obama meets Dalai Lama despite China's warning

China has responded angrily to a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The Chinese foreign ministry described the meeting in Washington as a gross interference in China's internal affairs.

The White House said the talks underscored President Obama's strong support for the preservation of what it called Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity.