NortonLifeLock Sniffs Around Avast, Announces Advanced Discussions for Acquisition
Always After Me Lucky Charms writes:
NortonLifeLock sniffs around Avast, announces 'advanced discussions' for acquisition:
NortonLifeLock, the somewhat clunky moniker adopted by the former consumer business arm of the Symantec Corporation, has announced "advanced discussions" with rival Avast over a possible merger.
"A combination of NortonLifeLock and Avast would bring together two companies with aligned visions, highly complementary business profiles and a joint commitment to innovation that helps protect and empower people to live their digital lives safely," a NortonLifeLock spokesperson claimed in a message to investors.
"We would draw on the best of both companies to ensure that the combination would benefit our customers, reward our employees and maximise long term value for all shareholders."
[...] Consumer security is precisely where Czech rival Avast has its sights set. Founded in 1988 by Eduard Kuera and Pavel Baudi as Alwil and focusing on antivirus from the get-go - with Baudi responsible for developing the first program to remove the Vienna virus from infected systems - the company has its own-brand security software and operates AVG Technologies, Piriform, and HMA as subsidiaries.
[...] The company's history is not untouched by controversy, however: its Avast- and AVG-branded browser extensions were dropped after they were found to be selling users' browsing histories to a third party, which the company promised to stop - only for an update to open a man-in-the-middle vulnerability in the Avast AntiTrack privacy tool.
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