Autodesk named Diana Colella to run its biggest segment, half its revenue, with AI prices not due until 2027
Autodesk named company veteran Diana Colella to run its architecture, engineering and construction business, its largest, on October 6, a day after Schneider Electric's $22.6 billion bid for PTC repriced engineering software. The agentic AI she must sell has no rollout terms until 2027.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
A thirty-year insider gets the largest job
Autodesk−0.77% — Autodesk, down 0.77 percent today named Diana Colella executive vice president of its architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) business on October 6, giving its largest industry segment to a nearly 30-year company veteran 1. She succeeds Amy Bunszel, who is retiring and stays through November 2 1. Colella arrived through the Discreet Logic acquisition, once ran the AutoCAD business, and most recently led the AI transformation of the Media & Entertainment unit through the Moxion, PIX and Wonder Dynamics deals, keeping that unit until a successor is found 1. Her brief: connect the desktop staples Revit and Civil 3D to Forma, the company's industry cloud for construction 1.
The repricing started the day before
On October 5, Schneider Electric agreed to buy PTC, an industrial software maker, for $205 a share in cash, about $22.6 billion, a 42.3% premium, and investors reassessed what engineering-software franchises are worth 2. Autodesk closed higher five sessions in a row through October 6, up 13.8% to $231.28 and a market value near $48.6 billion, including a 4.4% jump on the day Colella was named 3. The stock still sits 28.5% below its 52-week high of $323.43, and it is down 21.9% for the year against an S&P 500 up 15.2% 3. Thirty of thirty-six analysts rate it Buy or higher, with an average target of $307.54, about 32% above the last close 2.
A 13.8% five-day run inside a stock down 21.9% for the year
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 1 day | 4.4% |
| 5 days (the streak) | 13.8% |
| 1 month | 6.1% |
| 3 months | 12.3% |
| Year to date | -21.9% |
| 1 year | -27.5% |
The AI underneath the rally ships in 2027
On September 15, at its Autodesk University conference, the company previewed agentic AI, software that works through multi-step tasks across products, on its three industry clouds: Forma for construction, Fusion for manufacturing, Flow for entertainment 4. The next-generation Assistant tying them together gets a standalone experience planned for 2027, with rollout timing and subscription terms to be announced that year 4. The rally is therefore paying today for products whose commercial terms do not exist yet. The base business compounds regardless: the quarter ended July 31 delivered $2.046 billion of revenue, up 16%, at a 29% GAAP operating margin 5. AECO revenue, the construction-and-operations line that maps to her new job, rose 17% to $1.029 billion, about half of company revenue 5.
Quarterly revenue crossed $2 billion for the first time in the July quarter
Data
| Revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '24 | $1.57B |
| Q4 '24 | $1.64B |
| Q1 '25 | $1.63B |
| Q2 '25 | $1.76B |
| Q3 '25 | $1.85B |
| Q4 '25 | $1.96B |
| Q1 '26 | $1.93B |
| Q2 '26 | $2.05B |
Free clones, and the door they hold open
The counterweight is public. Tom's Hardware reports that Brandon Thomas, the engineer whose free ArtCraft suite clones Adobe tools, has released open-source Excel, PowerPoint and Word replicas built with Claude; his community now discusses a "CADcraft" for users "who don't like Autodesk" 8. The Reddit−1.30% — Reddit, down 1.30 percent today thread drew 7,756 points and 1,536 comments 9. The same report concedes most of these apps are "still far from what they intend to replace" 8. The quarter closed October 31, guided to $2.125–2.140 billion, with MaintainX, the operations-software maker Autodesk agreed to buy for $3.6 billion in May, still digesting 7. Two tests wait on November 27: whether revenue clears $2.125 billion, and whether the 29% GAAP margin holds through the MaintainX integration 7. It is the first print where Colella's segment answers for a price the AI has not yet earned.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
