Avast Software is a multinational cybersecurity software company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It researches and develops computer security software, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
As of April 2021, Avast has more than 435 million monthly active users, which makes it own the second largest market share among anti-malware application vendors worldwide.
NortonLifeLock Inc., is formerly known as Symantec Corporation. The American software company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, provides cybersecurity software and services.
Known for its many Norton products, NortonLifeLock is a Fortune 500 company, and a member of the S&P 500 stock-market index.
And this time, the two have agreed to merge.
On their own, they are already two of the biggest players in the anti-malware and antivirus software market. By merging, the companies plan to become an even bigger company.
According to the press release, the key of the merge:
- Accelerates the transformation of consumer Cyber Safety with over 500 million users.
- Combines Avast’s strength in privacy and NortonLifeLock’s strength in identity, creating a broad and complementary product portfolio, beyond core security and towards adjacent trust-based solutions.
- Strengthens geographic diversification and facilitates expansion into the SOHO/VSB segments.
- Unlocks significant value creation through approximately $280 million of annual gross cost synergies, with additional upside potential from new reinvestment capacity for innovation and growth.
- Brings together two strong and highly experienced consumer-focused management teams.
The plan for the merger was first reported back in July 2021, when NortonLifeLock announced that it was in talks to buy Avast.
The deal was inked at an offer of $8 billion in August.
The merger makes NortonLifelock own all of Avast’s shares.
“With this combination, we can strengthen our cyber safety platform and make it available to more than 500 million users,” said Vincent Pilette, NortonLifeLock CEO. “We will also have the ability to further accelerate innovation to transform cyber safety.”
This news came months after NortonLifeLock bought Germany-based Avira, and five years after Avast acquired its Czech rival AVG. A month after the Avira deal closed in January 2021, Avira acquired London-based antivirus maker Bullguard.
And this NortonLifeLock and Avast merger has the potential to create an even bigger impact on consumers.
This is because Avast, AVG and Avira are all known for dependable, free antivirus software, while Norton has no free antivirus offerings and charges some of the highest prices in the industry.
What's more, Norton also has businesses in other sectors.
For example, it has backup software, online storage, unlimited VPN service and full identity-theft protection.
With all of its products, NortonLifeLock has already positioned itself as the one-stop shop for all of its users' security and privacy needs.
And by merging with Avast, NortonLifeLock is having a better chance in competing against Microsoft with its Microsoft Defender, the antivirus built into Windows, the default of the operating system.