By Josh Beckerman
Symantec Corp. has become the latest tech company to split up,
announcing plans to form separate publicly traded companies, one
focused on security and the other targeting information
management.
"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,"
Symantec President and Chief Executive Michael A. Brown said in a
news release Thursday.
Shares of Symantec, down 5% over the past year, rose 1.8% in
after-hours trading.
Symantec's security business, which includes the Norton
antivirus business, generated revenue of $4.2 billion in the fiscal
year that ended in March. Its information management business,
which includes data backup and recovery, had revenue of $2.5
billion in that same year.
The company expects to complete the spinoff by the end of next
year.
Mr. Brown will be the president and CEO of Symantec, and Thomas
Seifert will continue to serve as chief financial officer. John
Gannon will be general manager of the new information management
business, and Don Rath will be its chief financial officer.
Mr. Brown was named as Symantec's chief executive last month
after getting the job on an interim basis in March. Mr. Brown
followed Steve Bennett, who had been fired amid sagging revenue and
slumping shares. It was the second time that Symantec had dumped a
CEO in less than two years.
Symantec also reiterated its guidance for the September quarter.
In August, the company said it expected per-share earnings,
excluding items, between 40 cents and 44 cents on revenue of $1.6
billion to $1.64 billion.
Symantec becomes the latest big company, including eBay Inc. and
Hewlett-Packard Co. in tech, to chose to break up lately, in part
because of a belief that operations with different growth profiles
are best managed as separate entities.
H-P on Monday said it would split the company into two parts,
resulting in one company focused on its personal-computer and
printer businesses, and the other selling servers, data-storage
gear, software, consulting operations and other services.
Companies including EMC Corp. and PepsiCo Inc. have faced
pressure from activist shareholders to split up.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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