Intel Sells Majority Stake in McAfee Security Unit for $4.2B

Intel announced last week that it has agreed to sell a majority stake (51%) of it’s Intel Security Division, formally known as McAfee Security, to private equity firm TPG for $3.1 billion USD in a cash deal.

Intel will retain a 49% stake in the new company, which will revert back to the original McAfee name, according to an official announcement from the computing company.

In addition to their $3.1B cash payment to Intel, TPG, formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, has commited to a $1.1B equity investment to drive growth for the newly formed McAfee Security company.

Intel values the new company at $4.2B, just over half of the $7.7N that it paid to acquire McAfee way back in 2011.

“Security remains important in everything we do at Intel and going forward we will continue to integrate industry leading security and privacy capabilities in our products from the cloud to billions of smart, connected computing devices,” said Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, in a prepared statement. “Intel will continue our collaboration with McAfee as we offer safe and secure products to our customers.”

Last year, Intel Security unveiled a new strategy that refocused the business on endpoint and cloud as security control points, as well as actionable threat intelligence, analytics and orchestration, but that didn’t stop rumors of Intel’s impending exit from the security market from emerging earlier this year.

Intel Security’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Chris Young will be appointed CEO of the new company upon the finalization of the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017.

“As a standalone company supported by these two partners, we will be in an even greater position of strength, committed to being the best provider the cybersecurity industry has ever seen,” Young said in an open letter to Intel Security shareholders. “We will continue to focus on solving the unique demands of customers in the dynamic cybersecurity marketplace, drive innovation that anticipates future market needs, and continue to grow through our strategic priorities.”