McAfee, the maker of antivirus and firewall security that was acquired by Intel in 2011 for $7.7 billion, has been spun out and as of Tuesday (April 4) is a standalone company.
According to a report, Intel owns 49 percent of the standalone McAfee with TPG Capital, the private equity firm, owning 51 percent of the company. McAfee launched with a new chief executive Chris Young, who was formerly an Intel security head. Under Young’s lead, McAfee plans on rebranding the company as maker of all things security not just software and hardware as well as working to keep its existing customers with the new company.
“A lot has changed in cybersecurity since Intel acquired McAfee in the first place,” Young says in a recent interview with Fortune. “There’s a real opportunity for us to go and do something special with McAfee as a standalone company.”
McAfee’s backing by TPG is being viewed positively by analysts given that TPG has invested in security companies including Zscaler and Tanium, both of which have newer offerings. According to the report, TPG sees an opportunity for McAfee to focus resources to compete in today’s security environment, which could include making buys.
“Being independent will give us a chance to do some M&A, and I expect that’ll be part of our going-forward strategy,” said Young in the report. The report noted buys of newer and more nimble players will be important to hold onto existing customers and at the same time land new ones. McAfee has a large client base, but it also has a reputation of making legacy products, noted the report.
“With a few acquisitions, they could probably change that perception,” said Joel Fishbein, an analyst with BTIG in the report.
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