Symantec to split in two
Security giant follows in HP's footsteps by announcing intent to split into separate security and information management companies
Symantec has announced plans to carve its business in twain, just three days after HP confirmed it is dividing into two separate firms.
The Mountain View-based security firm announced today that its board of directors has approved a split into two publicly traded companies, with one business focusing on security and one on information management (IM).
The decision comes after an extensive business review of strategy and operations and is intended to entity to maximize its respective growth opportunities and drive greater shareholder value, the firm said in its announcement.
Newly crowned CEO Michael Brown said that with the ongoing, fast-paced changes in the security and storage industries, Symantec's security and IM businesses each face unique market opportunities and challenges.
"It has become clear that winning in both security and information management requires distinct strategies, focused investments and go-to market innovation," he said.
"Separating Symantec into two, independent, publicly traded companies will provide each business the flexibility and focus to drive growth and enhance shareholder value."
The security business - which generated revenue of $4.2bn in fiscal year 2014 - is set to include consumer and enterprise endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, mobile, SSL certificates, user authentication, mail, web and data center security, data-loss prevention, hosted security and managed security services.
The IM business - which Symantec pointed out in its announcement currently serves 75 percent of the Fortune 500 - will house backup and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery, storage management and information availability solutions.
Brown will continue as president and chief executive of Symantec and Thomas Seifert will remain as chief financical officer of Symantec. John Gannon will be general manager of the new IM business and Don Rath its acting chief financial officer.
Symantec said it expects to complete the spin-off by the end of December 2015.