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Symantec to split security and data businesses

By Ng Chong Seng - on 12 Oct 2014, 10:11am

Symantec to split security and data businesses

Security company Symantec has announced that it’ll be splitting the company into two, independent publicly traded companies: one to focus on security and the other on information management.

The decision came after an extensive business review of the company’s strategy and operational structure, and was unanimously approved by its Board of Directors. Symantec hopes that this split will enable each company to be more nimble in the market and have better focus on its own growth opportunities. The security business generated revenue of US$4.2 billion in fiscal year 2014, and the IM business US$2.5 billion during the same period.

After the split, the security business (which takes the Symantec name) will still be led by CEO Michael A. Brown. Thomas Seifert will continue to serve as CFO. John Gannon will be General Manager of the new information management business and Don Rath will be its acting CFO. The transaction will take the form of a tax-free distribution to Symantec shareholders of 100% of the IM business in a new, independent, publicly traded stock. The company expects to complete the spinoff by the end of December 2015.

Other large tech companies that have planned a breakup this year include HP and eBay. HP intends to have one entity taking care of the corporate hardware and services businesses and another taking care of the PCs and printers businesses. For eBay, the PayPal payments business will be separated from the marketplace business.

Source: Symantec.

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