https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • MSP 501 Information Center
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • MSP 501 Information Center
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Security


Shutterstock

Merger rumor

Thoma Bravo Reportedly Eyeing McAfee Acquisition

  • Written by Edward Gately
  • December 17, 2018
Intel paid $7.7 billion for McAfee in 2011.

Intel and TPG Capital might be looking to sell McAfee to private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which last month reportedly approached Symantec about buying that company.

Thoma Bravo is in early talks to buy McAfee from TPG and Intel, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. McAfee and Intel declined comment, and Thoma Bravo couldn’t be reached for comment.

Michael Finneran

Michael Finneran

Intel paid $7.7 billion for McAfee in 2011 and last year completed the sale of a 51 percent stake in the company to TPG.

Channel Partners contributor Michael Finneran, of dBrn Associates, tells Channel Partners that “as security is outside of their primary area, I wonder why Intel bought them in the first place.”

Last month, Symantec’s stock spiked after reports that Thoma Bravo had approached the cybersecurity giant to express interest in acquiring it. It’s unclear whether Thoma Bravo remains interested in acquiring Symantec.

Eric Parizo, senior analyst of enterprise security with GlobalData, said McAfee’s primary stakeholders, Intel and TPG, have “pressured it to cut costs following its acquisition of Skyhigh Networks.

GlobalData's Eric Parizo

GlobalData’s Eric Parizo

“In turn, that has led to at least two rounds of layoffs in the past year, as well as cutbacks to R&D and marketing in other non-core product lines, such as IPS and non-cloud DLP,” he said.

A Thoma Bravo acquisition would be “good for McAfee, and its customers and partners because Thoma Bravo is more apt to see McAfee’s long-term potential, and would be more tolerant of a strategy that focused less on short-term profitability, which would accelerate McAfee’s overall product portfolio modernization efforts.”

Tony Massimini, senior industry analyst, information and network security at Frost & Sullivan, said Intel hasn’t done much with McAfee through the years so it made sense to spin it back out and recoup its original investment. TPG is a longtime investor in high tech, so it’s likely looking for a return on its investment, he said.

Keep up with the latest channel-impacting mergers and acquisitions in our M&A roundup.

“McAfee was spun out and … is a very fast-growing and aggressive company,” he said. “McAfee looks very attractive in terms of the kind of growth they’ve had, which is attributable to its leadership, CEO Chris Young and all the people under him.”

Thoma Bravo’s portfolio includes Barracuda Networks, whose portfolio complements McAfee’s, Massimini said. It remains to be seen whether Thoma Bravo would combine the two companies or leave them the way they are, he said.

“This is certainly indicative of Thoma Bravo’s strategy to look for more companies in cybersecurity,” he said. “They understand the growth in that.”

At McAfee’s MPower Security Summit in October, Young said his company has realized its vision of going big in cloud and becoming cloud-native with its SkyHigh acquisition and its Mvision product portfolio.

Tags: Agents Mergers and Acquisitions Security

Most Recent


  • Teamwork
    3 Is Not a Crowd: How MSPs, Vendors and SMBs Can Work Together Toward a Cybersecurity-Centric Future
    The trust built from a partnership is essential to building a successful cyber-centric business approach.
  • Cloaked hacker
    Cybereason Issues 'Highly Severe' Black Basta Ransomware Warning
    Some of Black Basta's ransom demands have exceeded $1 million.
  • managed services
    Kyndryl Advances Microsoft Azure Managed Services, Adds Alliance Partners
    Kyndryl is going deeper with Microsoft, while adding Oracle and Veritas as its newest alliance partners.
  • layoffs
    IronNet Layoffs, 'Due to Market Conditions,' Impact 17% of Workers
    The layoffs are part of a broader streamlining plan.

One comment

  1. Avatar ciro Dciiorio January 31, 2019 @ 6:19 am
    Reply

    Thomas Bravo
    better buy Strikeforce Tech Inc
    best Patents around
    infringed by most!””

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • USB drive
    A Coup and a Theft: Why MSPs Can’t Let Clients Get Lax About USB Security
  • Ransomware skull and crossbones
    JBS Did What it 'Needed to Do' with $11 Million Ransom Payment
  • hybrid clouds
    Nutanix, HPE Team on Hybrid, Multicloud via GreenLake
  • lone Arctic wolf
    Arctic Wolf Enhances Partner Program with 2 New Tiers

Upcoming Events

View all

MSP Summit

September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Galleries

View all

Heads Up, Partners: Google Cloud, New Relic Make Big Moves

June 28, 2022

Google Cloud Sustainability Summit: New Programs, Tools for Partners

June 28, 2022

VMware Continues Shift to Subscription Model with vSphere+ and vSAN+

June 28, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

How to Differentiate to Leverage 5G’s Revenue Opportunity

June 28, 2022

Why MSPs are Attractive Cyberattack Targets

June 24, 2022

IT Partner Programs Must Evolve to Meet Market Demands

June 21, 2022

Webinars

View all

VEP Platform for Delivery of uCPE, SD-WAN and SASE

June 29, 2022

The Digital Worker: How to Empower Customers with a Flexible, Scalable VDI Solution to Enable Remote Work

June 30, 2022

Growing Partner Revenue and Customer Satisfaction with Power Management Services

June 23, 2022

White Papers

View all

Work Goes Remote – (and Other Top ITOps Trends)

May 25, 2022

The New Bottom Line: How MSPs Can Meet the Healthcare Crisis While Evolving Their Businesses

April 19, 2022

How to build a Security Operations Center (on a budget)

April 4, 2022

Channel Futures TV

View all

Vonage a ‘Single Communications Stack Provider’ for Partners, Customers

IBM, Partners and the $1 Trillion Hybrid Cloud Opportunity

June 26, 2022

Agents Share ‘Secrets,’ Industry Opportunity

May 11, 2022

AT&T, Microsoft, Cisco, ThreatLocker on Unlocking Partner Potential

May 6, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

To build trust, #MSPs, vendors and #SMBs need to work together on #cybersecurity, says @barracuda.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 29, 2022
ChannelFutures

Here are five takeaways from @HPE CEO Antonio Neri at #HPEDiscover 2022. dlvr.it/ST1wJs https://t.co/pZHlu6jYXd

June 29, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@HPE has bolstered its compute portfolio for partners embracing cloud-native development. @HPE_Partner… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 28, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@Oracle's @NetSuite has launched a new program, SuiteReferral, to offer benefits to organizations that invite peer… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 28, 2022
ChannelFutures

It’s early in the week but already #cloud companies are making waves: @GoogleCloud, @NewRelic, @Pax8. Also, news fr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 28, 2022
ChannelFutures

5G is here and providing great revenue opportunities. Find out how from @dubberapp #5G #networks #communication… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 28, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@Vonage, @GoTo are key players in unified communication market worth nearly $190 billion by 2031.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 28, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@IronNet lays off 17% of workforce due to market conditions. dlvr.it/ST0v61 https://t.co/0uOaMU662Y

June 28, 2022

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X