The US software company NortonLifeLock announced that it has agreed on a takeover with the Czech multinational antivirus company Avast. The US company will pay up to 8.6 billion dollars (€7.3 billion) for the merger, the Financial Times reported.
Both companies announced negotiations on the merger in July. In a joint statement on Tuesday evening, they said that Avast shareholders would be offered a combination of cash settlement and newly issued NortonLifeLock shares.
The new company will have headquarters in Prague and Tempe, Arizona. It is going to offer services to more than 500 million users.
“We both have the vision of a common platform,” said NortonLifeLock CEO Vincent Pilette, adding that NortonLifeLock excels in identity theft protection, while Avast is a leader in protecting user privacy.
The CEO of Avast, Ondřej Vlček, perceives the benefits of the merger similarly.
“A world leader in cybersecurity focused on end-users will emerge, combining the strengths of Avast in privacy protection and NortonLifeLock in identity protection,” Vlček stated in a press release.
Avast has been operating on the market since 1988. Its shares are traded on the Prague and London stock exchanges. It is one of the pioneers in the field of computer security, which provides security programs for computers and mobile devices. Its products are used by over 435 million users worldwide, largely free of charge. The company says it employs more than 1,700 people and blocks 1.5 billion cyberattacks every month. The founders of Avast hold a roughly 35 percent stake in the company.
NortonLifeLock is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. The company has a market value of about 16 billion dollars (€13.6 billion) and previously operated under the name Symantec. However, in 2019 the company sold the Symantec software maker to the US chipmaker Broadcom. NortonLifeLock’s most prominent business items are now Norton antivirus and LifeLock identity theft protection products.
Title image: The logo of Avast, the Czech antivirus giant (Avast / Instagram)
