Enlarge By Jeff Chiu, AP Shantanu Narayen, President and Chief Operating Officer of Adobe, speaks at the BlackBerry developers conference 2010 in San Francisco, Monday, Sept. 27, 2010. NEW YORK  Shares of Adobe soared in heavy trading Thursday on a report that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discussed a possible buyout of the company. A report posted in the "Bits" blog of The New York Times said Ballmer recently met with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to talk about Apple's control of the cellphone market and how Microsoft and Adobe could work together to fend off the iPhone maker. It was in this context that a possible buyout of Adobe by Microsoft came up, according to The Times. Microsoft had no comment. In a statement, Adobe said it shares "millions of customers around the world" with Microsoft, and "the CEOs of the two companies do meet from time to time. However, we do not publicly comment on the timing or topics of their private meetings." Adobe Systems, based in San Jose, California, makes software such as Photoshop and the Flash technology used for Web videos and games. The company has been in a long-standing feud with Apple. over Flash, which Apple bans from its mobile devices such as the iPad and the iPhone. An Adobe acquisition would be a huge one for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, whose last big purchase was in 2007, when it bought aQuantive for $6 billion. A proposed deal to buy Yahoo the following year fell apart when Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion bid. Adobe's market cap is close to $15 billion. Gleacher & Co. analyst Yun Kim said a potential buyer would be "great" for Adobe, which is looking to grow its annual revenue to $5 billion in the next couple of years. It had revenue of about $3 billion last year. But from Microsoft's point of view, it's unclear what parts of Adobe's business they can use to get themselves ahead in the online advertising market. Adobe ended the session up nearly 12% at $28.69, with trading volume more than six times the average. The stock slid 14 cents to $28.55 in aftermarket trading. Microsoft ended trading up a dime at $24.53. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more