Symantec sells web security business for just under $1bn
Vendor also reports 33 per cent revenue increase following internal reorganisation and distribution changes
Symantec has agreed to sell its web security business to DigiCert for $950m (£717m).
The deal, backed by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, will also see Symantec take a 30 per cent stake in the newly combined company.
Symantec CEO Greg Clark said: "Transitioning our website security and related PKI solutions to DigiCert allows us to sharpen our enterprise focus on delivering unparalleled protection for the cloud generation through Symantec's integrated cyberdefence platform.
"As our recently announced deals with Fireglass and Skycure demonstrate, we are accelerating the pace of innovation we bring to market through a combination of acquisitions as well as development from the ground up.
"We carefully examined our options to ensure our customers would have a world-class experience with a company that offers a modern website PKI platform and is poised to lead the next generation of website security innovation."
The sale comes after Symantec announced plans to acquire browser isolation vendor Fireglass and mobile security player Skycure earlier this year.
The deal will see DigiCert take over Symantec's SSL and TLS technology, as well as its Internet of Things (IoT) arm.
Symantec acquired most of the tech it is offloading in 2010, when it bought VeriSign's security business for $1.28bn.
Majority DigiCert owner Thoma Bravo currently includes McAfee, Riverbed, and Solarwinds in its portfolio.
DigiCert CEO John Merrill said: "With this deal, we are bringing together the industry's top talent to provide enhanced technology solutions and support for our growing customer base.
"These added capabilities will help us accelerate our efforts to simplify SSL/TLS and related PKI solutions to meet our customers' web and IoT security needs.
"We welcome the many Symantec website security business team members who will be joining our work family at DigiCert, and we are excited about combining the best of what Symantec has to offer with DigiCert."
Cost savings
Symantec announced the sale at the same time as its Q1 results which saw revenue up 33 per cent year on year to $1.175bn for the three months ending 30 June 2017.
On an earnings call transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Symantec CFO Nicholas Noviello said the vendor has taken steps to implement cost savings over recent months, pointing specifically to a distribution reshuffle.
"We remain ahead of plan on our commitment for cost synergies," he said.
"We have eliminated an enormous amount of complexity in the business. We've streamlined our distribution and channel, simplified SKUs and pricing and worked hard to start to modernise back-office systems, all of which has benefited customers and our own opportunity.
"On 1 April, we successfully achieved the goal of combining our two sales teams into a single organisation. Despite all the change, our sales team delivered and the systems and process changes were successful.
"We also rolled out our new secure One Channel programme."
CRN reported earlier this month that Symantec has signed up distributor Exclusive Networks in the UK, sparking rumours that its relationship with Westcon could be in jeopardy.