Design software maker Adobe plans to lay off about eight percent of its world wide workforce and restructure parts of its business. The 600 job cuts will come from all of the company's business units and are in response to the weak worldwide economy and lower than expected Creative Suite 4 sales, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe's president and CEO, said "The global economic crisis significantly impacted our revenue during the fourth quarter. We have taken action to reduce our operating costs and fine-tune the focus of our resources on key strategic priorities."

The news comes only a couple of days after Adobe's announcement that it will not exhibit at Macworld Expo in January. The company said in a statement that it decided to "shift its focus" at the annual conference and expo, but didn't state whether or not current economic conditions played a role in that decision.

While the layoff numbers look significant -- especially to the employees impacted by the cutbacks -- they are in line with the software industry as a whole.

Jefferies and Co. analyst Ross MacMillan commented "Adobe is another company in tech-land making layoffs now that their revenue run rate has been adjusted to the new reality."