The Wall Street Journal

NortonLifeLock in talks to acquire cybersecurity company Avast

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NortonLifeLock Inc. is in talks to buy cybersecurity firm Avast PLC, according to people familiar with the matter, in a deal that would expand the U.S. company’s focus on consumer software.

A deal could be finalized this month, assuming talks don’t fall apart, the people said. Avast has a market value of around £5.2 billion ($7.2 billion). Assuming a typical deal premium, the deal could value the company at more than $8 billion.

Avast AVST, , which is based in Prague but trades in London, primarily makes both free and premium security software for consumers such as desktop security and server and mobile-device protection. The company says it has 435 million active users and its 2020 revenue was roughly $893 million.

The deal would be a big one for NortonLifeLock NLOK, -1.07%, based in Tempe, Ariz. With a market value of about $16 billion, the company was known as Symantec Corp. before it closed a $10.7 billion deal to sell its enterprise-security business to Broadcom Inc. in 2019. What is left mainly sells Norton antivirus software and LifeLock identity-theft-protection products to consumers.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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