NortonLifeLock has announced that it has rebranded itself as Gen Digital following the completion of its merger with Avast.
The company disclosed the acquisition of another antivirus giant in August 2021 in a multi-billion dollar merger worth between $8.100 and $8.600 billion.
The newly formed company, which will have two locations, one in Prague, Czech Republic and one in Tempe, Arizona, is expected to have more than 500 million customers, bringing together well-known brands such as Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, CCleaner and ReputationDefender under a new entity.
complete portfolio
Beginning today, Gen Digital will be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, under the symbol "GEN," though shareholders do not need to do anything.
This decision should generate more than €280 million in annual savings within three years.
Avast was founded in Prague in 1988 before going public in 2018 on the London Stock Exchange, where it was valued at around $3 billion, making it one of the UK's largest tech listings. at the time.
NortonLifeLock CEO Vincent Pilette retains his position at the newly merged company, and Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek joins as president and board member.
“Today, five billion people in the world are online; digital life is life,” said Pilette. "We are all part of a new generation, no matter how old we are. It's not Generation X, Y or Z, it's the digital generation. Gen's family of trusted brands has a tradition of protecting the digital first generations and is united by a goal of empowering digital freedom for the next generation of our digital lives.
Cybersecurity (opens in a new window) in business has become a growing challenge lately, even more so since the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic. Businesses are increasing their budgets as they do everything they can to protect against many risks, such as credential phishing, data and identity theft, distributed denial-of-service attacks, compromised work emails, or hacker attacks. ransomware.
While Norton is more focused on identity protection, Avast is more geared towards antivirus solutions. From now on, the two companies hope to be able to offer "a more complete portfolio" to their clients.
“Our daily life is almost completely connected; we bank, shop, learn, work and connect online. Vlcek said. “While the advancement of technology has brought conveniences and connections we couldn't have imagined, it also brings additional complexities and new types of threats. At Gen, we are committed to uniting our passion, experience, and global presence to meet these challenges in innovative ways, ultimately advancing digital freedom for all.