New Delhi, March 13 -- Adobe's long-standing CEO Shantanu Narayen, part of a quartet of Indian-origin executives leading global technology giants, has stepped down from the hot seat after 18 years and a quarter at the helm.

Narayen announced Thursday that he will remain as the chairperson of the board of directors at Adobe, and will retain his CEO role until the company identifies a successor.

"The next era of creativity is being written right now-shaped by AI, by new workflows and by entirely new forms of expression. Adobe has never waited for the future to arrive. We've anticipated it. We've built it. And we've led it," he wrote in an email to employees on 9 March, doffing his hat to them.

Narayen was the first among Microsoft CEO Sa...