I don't know that the Macromedia deal was all that bad.
While there are few, if any, surviving remnants of Macromedia software within Adobe, the acquisition of Macromedia both eliminated its most serious competitor and provided an influx of engineering talent.
Using stock price as a surrogate for overall performance, they went from ~$35 at the time of the acquisition to ~$155 today, with annual net income rising from $600M to $1.6B today.
While there are few, if any, surviving remnants of Macromedia software within Adobe, the acquisition of Macromedia both eliminated its most serious competitor and provided an influx of engineering talent.
Using stock price as a surrogate for overall performance, they went from ~$35 at the time of the acquisition to ~$155 today, with annual net income rising from $600M to $1.6B today.