McAfee sells its business division for $4 billion

McAfee will only focus on consumer software. The company sells its enterprise division to an investment company for 4 billion dollars, equivalent to 3.4 billion euros. According to McAfee, more growth is possible in the consumer market.

In a presentation on the sale, McAfee said the divestiture of the business division would allow it to better focus on the consumer market and accelerate its strategy to “become a leader in personal security.”

McAfee, according to the presentation, has 18 million consumers as customers. 2.8 million of these were added in 2020. As a result, turnover from consumer products rose faster than that of the business branch last year. In the fourth quarter that was a growth of 23 percent, while the enterprise division grew 5 percent.

McAfee’s total revenue last year was $2.9 billion. That was 10 percent more than a year earlier. Of that turnover, 1.6 billion came from consumers. The remaining 1.3 billion was attributable to the business division.

McAfee sells its enterprise division to Symphony Technology Group, a US private equity firm. The parties expect the acquisition to be fully completed by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval.

The company that makes antivirus and security software has a checkered history. McAfee was founded in 1980 and bought by Intel in 2010 for $7.7 billion. In 2014, the name was changed to Intel Security, but in 2017 Intel divested a majority stake, after which the company continued as McAfee. Founder John McAfee has not been involved with the company since 1994. He recently made headlines again for being charged with crypto fraud.