Norton LifeLock rebrands as Gen following Avast acquistion
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NortonLifeLock has announced that it has rebranded as Gen Digital following the completion of its merger with Avast.
The company unveiled its August 2021 acquisition of its fellow antivirus giant in a multi-billion dollar merger valued between $8.1 and $8.6 billion.
The newly formed company, which will have two headquarters, one in Prague, Czech Republic, and the other in Tempe, Arizona, is expected to serve more than 500 million customers and unite well-known brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, CCleaner and ReputationDefender under one new entity.
Extensive portfolio
As of today, Gen Digital trades on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, under the “GEN” symbol, although shareholders are not required to do anything.
The move should deliver more than $280 million in annual cost savings within three years.
Avast was founded in Prague in 1988 before going public on the London Stock Exchange in 2018, where it was valued at around $3 billion, making it one of the UK’s largest technology listings at the time.
NortonLifeLock’s Chief Executive Officer, Vincent Pilette, will retain his position at the newly merged company, with Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek as president and board member.
“Today, five billion people around the world are online; digital life is life,” said Pilette. “We are all part of a new generation, regardless of age. It’s not Gen X, Y or Z, it’s Generation Digital. Gen’s family of trusted brands has a heritage of protecting the first digital generations and is united by a shared purpose to drive Digital Freedom for the next generation of our digital lives.”
Cybersecurity (opens in new tab) in the business has become a growing challenge of late, especially since the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic. Businesses are increasing their budgets while doing their best to protect themselves against a variety of risks, such as credential phishing, data and identity theft, distributed denial-of-service attacks, corporate email compromise, or ransomware attacks.
While Norton focuses more on identity protection, Avast is more focused on antivirus solutions. Now the two companies hope to offer their customers “a more comprehensive portfolio”.
“Our daily lives are almost completely interconnected; we bank, shop, learn, work and connect online.” said Vlcek. “While technological advancements have brought conveniences and connections that we could not have imagined, it also brings added complexity and new types of threats. At Gen, we are committed to bringing together our passion, expertise and global presence to innovatively address these challenges and ultimately enable digital freedom for all.”