Intel Corp. announced a new collaboration with alternative-asset managing company TPG that they hope will revive the McAfee name in the security circuit. According to the announcement, Intel and TPG form a new, independent cybersecurity company called McAfee, which will be spun out from Intel Security. TPG will own 51 percent of McAfee while Intel will retain 49 percent for the company that is valued at $4.2 billion. Aside from owning 51 percent of the new security company, McAfee will make a $1.1 billion equity investment to drive growth and enhance focus of the company as a standalone business.
“Security remains important in everything we do at Intel and going forward we will continue to integrate industry-leading security and privacy capabilities in our products from the cloud to billions of smart, connected computing devices,” said Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel. “As we collaborate with TPG to establish McAfee as an independent company, we will also share in the future success of the business and in the market demand for top-flight security solutions, creating long-term value for McAfee’s customers, partners, employees and Intel’s shareholders. Intel will continue our collaboration with McAfee as we offer safe and secure products to our customers.”
The new McAfee is being touted as “the world’s largest pure-play cybersecurity company,” and will include Intel Security’s strategy that delivers actionable threat intelligence, analytics, and orchestration, allowing customers to detect and respond to more threats faster and with fewer resources.
“We believe that McAfee will thrive as an independent company. With TPG’s investment, along with continued support from Intel, McAfee will sharpen its focus and become even more agile in its response to today’s rapidly evolving security sector,” said Jim Coulter, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of TPG.
The announcement of this new security company comes just a few days after John McAfee, the founder of McAfee and where the brand name was taken from, filed a lawsuit against Intel over the rights of the McAfee brand. John McAfee wanted to be able to use his name on new ventures, but when Intel bought the company back in 2011, the rights to the name also apparently went to Intel. An update from McAfee himself to TechGenix is forthcoming.
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