US group NortonLifeLock and Avast will merge into an estimated $ 8 billion deal. The agreement assumes that Norton will acquire all the shares in Avast, thus creating a larger cybersecurity company, reports The Verge.
“With this combination, we hope to strengthen our cybersecurity platform and make it available to more than 500 million users,” said Vincent Pilette, CEO of Norton.
The move will address the issue of the growing number of ransomware attacks from the last period. This type of virus often leads to disruption of supply chains and can affect the customers of the attacked companies at the same time, targeting consumers’ personal information and credit cards.
Avast, founded in the Czech Republic, has been creating software for consumers and small businesses for 11 years, acquiring the antivirus company AVG five years ago.
NortonLifeLock is Symantec’s former consumer division, left behind after semiconductor maker Broadcom bought Symantec’s security business two years ago. Norton antivirus has existed in several forms since 1991 and has remained a popular choice among consumers for the past three decades.
NortonLifeLock currently has a market capitalization of $ 15.2 billion. Avast has a market value of about $ 8.3 billion.
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