Avast is a Czech multinational company focused on computer security. It offers protection programs for computers and mobile devices, has been on the market since 1988 and is among the pioneers of the field. Its shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Prague and London.[1]
Planned merger with NortonLifeLock
According to a report by Czech Television of 11 August 2021, the American software company NortonLifeLock agreed with Avast on taking it over. Negotiations on a merger of the companies were reported in July, and on Tuesday 10 August they were confirmed in a joint statement. Under the plan, the American company was to pay up to 8.6 billion dollars, about 186.3 billion crowns. Avast shareholders were to be offered a cash settlement combined with newly issued NortonLifeLock shares.[1]
The headquarters of the combined company were to be in Prague and in Tempe, Arizona, and it was to serve more than 500 million users. Vincent Pilette, until then head of NortonLifeLock, was to become chief executive, and Ondřej Vlček and Pavel Baudiš of Avast were to sit on the board. The name of the new company was not known at the time of the report, but according to Vlček the Norton and Avast brands were to continue to exist.[1]
According to the report, shareholders could choose between two payout options. The first assumed that for one Avast share they would receive 7.61 dollars (165 crowns), nine tenths of it in cash and one tenth in shares of the new company. The second, preferred by Avast management, assumed a cash payout for only 31 percent of the holding at 2.37 dollars (51.4 crowns) per share, with shares of the new company for the rest. Existing Avast shareholders were to own 14 to 26 percent of the combined company.[1]
Vlček expected the merger to reduce gross costs by 280 million dollars, about six billion crowns, and wanted to use part of the savings for investment projects worth 80 to 100 million dollars, especially in research, development and innovation. He expected the transaction to close in nine to ten months at the earliest, that is roughly in mid-2022. Beforehand, the general meetings of both companies and the regulators in the countries where the companies operate had to approve the merger; until then both companies were to operate independently.[1]
Vincent Pilette, head of NortonLifeLock, said that his company is strong in protection against identity theft and Avast in protecting users' privacy. Ondřej Vlček described the planned combination as the creation of a global leader in cybersecurity focused on end users.[1]
Fine for passing on user data
Czech Television also reported a fine of 351 million crowns imposed on Avast by the Office for Personal Data Protection, which the company disagrees with. It concerns the subsidiary Jumpshot, which Avast closed at the beginning of 2020, and the passing on of data of roughly a hundred million users without anonymisation. According to the report, the company was considering further steps, including an administrative lawsuit.[2]