After HP, IT security vendor Symantec will split the company into two.
One business will focus on security and one business focus on information management (IM).
The security business generated revenue of $4.2 billion in fiscal year 2014. The IM business generated revenue of $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2014.
The board has approved the decision.
Creating two publicly listed standalone businesses will allow each entity to maximize its respective growth opportunities.
New business structure
Michael A Brown will be the president and CEO of Symantec and 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.
Gannon served as president and COO of Quantum. Prior to Quantum, he led HP’s commercial PC business.
Rath joined Symantec in August 2012 and previously held senior tax and finance roles with Synopsys, Chiron and VERITAS.
“It has become clear that winning in both security and information management requires distinct strategies, focused investments and go-to market innovation,” said Michael A Brown, president and chief executive officer of Symantec.
Benefits from splitting:
Focus on its unique growth opportunities, R&D investments, and go-to-market capabilities
Reduce operational complexity
Enhance strategic flexibility, pursue partnerships, and develop independent M&A strategies
Set distinct capital allocation policies
Symantec Security Business
Symantec says the security market is projected to reach $38 billion in 2018. In addition, managed security services is projected to be a $10 billion market by 2018 growing at a 30 percent CAGR from 2013 to 2018.
As announced earlier, Symantec will consolidate its Norton products to one offering. It will introduce an ATP threat defense gateway by the end of this fiscal year.
The security business will include: consumer and enterprise endpoint security; endpoint management; encryption; mobile; Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates; user authentication; mail, web and data center security; data loss prevention; hosted security; and managed security services.
Symantec Information Management Business
Symantec’s IM businesses compete in markets that were $11 billion in 2013 expanding to $16 billion by 2018. Its IM business is a market leader, serving 75 percent of the Fortune 500.
The company’s appliance products are outpacing the industry with 27 percent growth, while its backup products rank first in the industry.
The Information Management business will include: backup and recovery; archiving; eDiscovery; storage management; and information availability solutions.
The transaction is intended to take the form of a tax-free distribution to Symantec shareholders of 100 percent of the IM business in a new, independent, publicly traded stock.
HP announced its plans to split the company into two to focus on printer and personal device group and IT infrastructure businesses as two separate business groups.
Baburajan K
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