NortonLifeLock to acquire Avast in $8.6 billion deal

by Mark Tyson on 11 August 2021, 13:11

Tags: Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC), avast!

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NortonLifeLock (formerly known as Symantec Corporation) and Avast have agreed to a merger, in a deal worth between US$8.1 billion and $8.6 billion, depending on Avast shareholder elections. Norton has instigated the merger and will be basically acquiring Avast to create "a new, industry-leading consumer Cyber Safety business". It is interesting to see there is still such a massive amount of money in these businesses, even though the likes of Microsoft has its own built-in virus/malware protection in WIndows, and there is a plethora of other free/affordable solutions on the market.

"This transaction is a huge step forward for consumer Cyber Safety and will ultimately enable us to achieve our vision to protect and empower people to live their digital lives safely," said Vincent Pilette, CEO of NortonLifeLock. "With this combination, we can strengthen our Cyber Safety platform and make it available to more than 500 million users. We will also have the ability to further accelerate innovation to transform Cyber Safety."

The Avast CEO, Ondřej Vlček, talked about the partnership of talent that will be created allowing them to "innovate and develop enhanced solutions and services, with improved capabilities from access to superior data insights". Vlček belives that while global cyber threats are growing, cyber safety suite penetration is very low, offering a good opportunity for the geographically diverse merged brands.

Possibly as important as the wider addressing of the market, it is foreseen that the merger will unlock significant value creation through approximately US$280 million of annual gross cost synergies. Figures reveal that the take-out price is roughly 17 times the yearly earnings of Avast. The newly merged company will have a customer base of 500 million+ users.

As mentioned in the intro, Avast shareholders have two choices with regard to the buyout; $2.37 in cash and 0.19 in NortonLifeLock shares for each Avast share or $7.61 in cash and 0.03 NortonLifeLock shares for each Avast share. Today, Avast reported revenue of $471.3 million for the first half of 2021, a little above analyst estimates.



HEXUS Forums :: 17 Comments

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That's AVAST down the pan then….
RIP,the Pirate got caught! Yahhhhhh!
“That's AVAST down the pan then…”. Couldn't have said it better, hate Norton with a vengence. When I 1st got into PC'c I think Dr Solomons was the one to have back then ( showing my age again.Lol). had so many instances of trying to rid Norton from friends PC's , even Nortons help desk couldn't manage it despite how many work arounds. Left me wasting no end of time purging the registry of it. Most times I found it easier to copy off what was wanted and reformat. Years back was using AVG for some time but swithched to Avast and been with it for years , looks like that might end.
+1 on the Norton hatred. It's classic bloatware on the home user side.

I roll with no antivirus on my main PC and exercise common sense. On the family members laptops, Avast was my go-to but depending on how it goes, might need to switch.
Norton and Bullguard are my two despised home AVs, now Avast will be added to the blacklist as I can't imagine Norton being any good for them.