March 12 (Reuters) - Adobe said on Thursday the company's chief executive officer Shantanu Narayen will transition from his position once a successor has been appointed.

Shares of the company slumped around 7% in extended trading.

Narayen's exit from the role comes after he served as the company's head for 18 years, where he helped the company's flagship software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and InDesign become household products for creatives across the world.

Adobe is grappling with a changing software landscape, where artificial intelligence is lowering the barrier to entry for design and its dominant position in the industry is being threatened by newcomers embracing the technology.