[German]German Avira GmbH & Co. KG from Tettnang, which sells antivirus solutions, has already found a new owner. The Tettnang based antivirus specialists were taken over by NortonLifeLock from the Kingdom of Bahrain based investor group Investcorp.
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A short review: The sheikhs from Bahrain
On April 9, 2020, the German company Avira GmbH & Co. KG from Tettnang announced a partnership with Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP). Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP) is an investor group from the Kingdom of Bahrain. I had reported about this deal in the blog post Investcorp from Bahrein acquires German AV vendor Avira. Avira founder Tjark Auerbach had retained a "significant" stake in the company.
The aim of the takeover is to ensure that Avira receives sufficient capital to continue to grow. But something does not seem to have quite fit the bill. What was irritating was the recent discontinuation of the Avira for Business product line (see Avira for Business discontinued – EOL on Jan. 1, 2022).
NortonLifeLock acquired Avira
NortonLifeLock has announced the acquisition of Avira through this BusinessWire announcement. NortonLifeLock, which is active in the area of cyber security for consumers, has taken over Avira in a cash transaction for around 360 million US dollars from the investor group Investcorp Technology Partners. The announcement emphasizes that Avira offers a consumer-oriented portfolio of cyber security and data protection solutions for a strong base in Europe and key emerging markets.
In various statements, the participants rave about how great it all is. "I am delighted to welcome Avira to the Norton family," said Vincent Pilette, CEO of NortonLifeLock. "The acquisition of Avira adds a growing company to our portfolio, accelerates our international growth and adds a leading freemium solution to our go-to-market model. Culturally, we are an excellent fit. We focus tirelessly on delivering innovative products to our customers and we always think of the customer first. We can hardly wait to get started with Avira".
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"NortonLifeLock and Avira are committed to protecting consumers' digital lives", says Travis Witteveen, CEO of Avira. "We are very excited to become part of NortonLifeLock – a company that stands for trust and leadership in cyber security. By leveraging the scale of NortonLifeLock, we can reach and protect more consumers around the world".
"We were pioneers in delivering comprehensive cyber security to consumers through our Norton 360 platform, and now that we have added Avira's product capabilities and solutions, our combined portfolio and freemium business model will enable us to better serve a broader range of consumers," said Gagan Singh, Chief Product Officer of NortonLifeLock.
If you blow the smoke away, it says that you want to score with Freemium products in the realm of regular consumers. Or to put it bluntly: the red Avira-Free box now gets a yellow box as outer packaging. How one wants to earn money there, however, is a mystery to me.
Avira in numbers
Avira is a German company in the IT security industry, which should be known to many readers due to its virus protection of the same name, which was founded in 1986 as H+BEDV Datentechnik by Tjark Auerbach – perhaps some readers still remember this name. The present Avira GmbH & Co. KG is located in Tettnang on Lake Constance and has about 500 employees. According to its own statement, Avira protects around 500 million devices worldwide with its virus scanners.
Who is NortonLifeLock Inc.
It is an American company in the field of cyber security for consumers. NortonLifeLock has its headquarters in Tempe, Arizona. The company was founded in 1982 by Gary Hendrix under the name Symantec. It has been listed on the NASDAQ since June 23, 1989. NortonLifeLock is committed to securing the devices, identities, online privacy, and needs of approximately 50 million consumers at home and at work, and to providing a trusted ally in a complex digital world. Further information is available at www.nortonlifelock.com. (via)
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Investcorp from Bahrein acquires German AV vendor Avira
Avira for Business discontinued – EOL on Jan. 1, 2022
