Technology
John McAfee Returns to Cybersecurity as CEO of John McAfee Global Technologies
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It’s been almost 30 years since John McAfee developed the first commercial antivirus software. It’s been almost six years since Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) acquired McAfee Inc. for $48 a share in a deal totaling $7.7 billion. And it’s been two years since Intel scrapped the McAfee name and rebranded it Intel Security.
Now, despite having expressed his unqualified pleasure back in 2010 at Intel dissociating itself from the McAfee name, saying that he was “everlastingly grateful to Intel for freeing me from this terrible association with the worst software on the planet,” the colorful character is now going back head first into internet security. On May 9, a small firm called MGT Capital Investments, which trades over the counter, has named McAfee its new chairman and CEO. Not only that, but he also will take back his name and brand, as the company will be renamed John McAfee Global Technologies.
The small company already has made its first move acquiring assets from D-Vasive with the aim of protecting consumers against invasive apps on their smartphones. The software is meant to protect users from apps that can turn on a phone’s microphone and camera surreptitiously while recording a user’s movement. The initiative seems fitting for McAfee, a libertarian firebrand known for his distrust of authority and suspicions of being followed.
The cybersecurity industry as a whole at present is less than scintillating, but the notorious antivirus founder may be able to shake it up yet. Market leader Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) for example has seen its stock quiescent for the past 13 years while its consumer security segment top line has shrunk 11% in the past three. Symantec’s consumer security business is on pace to fall even more when full 2015 earnings are reported on May 12.
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