The story
Founded by John McAfee in 1987.1
1987–1999
The company was founded in 1987 as McAfee Associates, named for its founder John McAfee, who resigned from the company in 1994. McAfee was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1992. In 1993, McAfee stepped down as head of the company, taking the position of chief technology officer before his eventual resignation. Bill Larson was appointed CEO in his place. Network Associates was formed in 1997 as a merger of McAfee Associates, Network General, PGP Corporation and Helix Software.
In 1996, McAfee acquired Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based FSA Corporation, which helped the company diversify its security offerings away from just client-based antivirus software by bringing on board its own network and desktop encryption technologies.
The FSA team also oversaw the creation of a number of other technologies that were leading edge at the time, including firewall, file encryption, and public key infrastructure product lines. While those product lines had their own individual successes including PowerBroker (written by Dean Huxley and Dan Freedman and now sold by BeyondTrust), the growth of antivirus ware always outpaced the growth of the other security product lines. It is fair to say that McAfee remains best known for its anti-virus and anti-spam products.
Among other companies bought and sold by McAfee is Trusted Information Systems, which developed the Firewall Toolkit, the free software foundation for the commercial Gauntlet Firewall, which was later sold to Secure Computing Corporation. McAfee acquired Trusted Information Systems under the banner of Network Associates in 1998.
McAfee, as a result of brief ownership of TIS Labs/NAI Labs/Network Associates Laboratories/McAfee Research, was highly influential in the world of open-source software, as that organization produced portions of the Linux, FreeBSD, and Darwin operating systems, and developed portions of the BIND name server software and SNMP version 3.
2000–2009
In 2000, McAfee/Network Associates was the leading authority in educating and protecting people against the Love Bug or ILOVEYOU virus, one of the most destructive computer viruses in history.
At the end of 2000, CEO Bill Larson, President Peter Watkins, and CFO Prabhat Goyal all resigned after the company sustained losses. Company president Gene Hodges served as interim CEO before George Samenuk was appointed CEO in 2001.
The company returned to its original name in July 2004. It restructured, beginning with the sale of its Magic Solutions business to Remedy, a subsidiary of BMC Software early in the year. In mid-2004, the company sold the Sniffer Technologies business to a venture capital backed firm named Network General (the same name as the original owner of Sniffer Technologies), and changed its name back to McAfee to reflect its focus on security-related technologies.
Read the full text
In 2006, Dale Fuller became interim CEO when Samenuk resigned and President Kevin Weiss was fired after the company was accused of questionable stock options practices. David DeWalt took over as CEO on April 2, 2007.
In 2007, McAfee launched the Security Innovation Alliance (SIA), a program focused on cultivating partnerships with other tech companies and integrating third-party technology with McAfee's security and compliance risk management technology. On March 11, 2008, McAfee announced a license agreement with the US Department of Defense. This agreement allowed the DoD to integrate McAfee's Virus Scan Enterprise and Anti-Spyware Enterprise into the Defense Information Systems Agency's cyber-security solutions.
2010–2020
On April 21, 2010, McAfee sent out a bad anti-virus update (DAT 5958) that crippled millions of corporate and consumer Windows-based computers.
On August 19, 2010, Intel announced that it would purchase McAfee for $48 a share in a deal valued at $7.68 billion. In September 2016, Intel announced its strategic partnership with TPG to turn McAfee into an independent cyber-security company as a joint venture. That deal closed on April 3, 2017.
CEO David DeWalt resigned in 2011, and McAfee appointed Michael DeCesare and Todd Gebhart as co-presidents. In 2011, McAfee also partnered with SAIC to develop anti-cyber espionage products for use by government and intelligence agencies, along with telecommunications companies.
On January 6, 2014, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced during the Consumer Electronics Show the name change from McAfee Security to Intel Security. The company's red shield logo would remain, with the firm continuing to operate as a wholly owned Intel subsidiary. John McAfee, who no longer had any involvement in the company, expressed his pleasure at his name no longer being associated with the software. However, as of 2016 the products still bore the McAfee name.
On September 7, 2016, Intel sold its majority stake to TPG and entered into an agreement with TPG to turn Intel Security into a jointly owned, independent cyber-security company with the McAfee name.
After the deal between the two companies closed, the company was spun back out of Intel on April 4, 2017." Chris Young assumed the CEO position as the company became an independent entity.
In 2018, the company unsuccessfully entered talks to sell majority control of McAfee to minority stakeholder Thoma Bravo. In 2018, McAfee also expanded its Security Innovation Alliance partnerships to include companies such as Atos, CyberX, Fidelis Cyber-security, Aujas, and Silver Peak.
In July 2019, McAfee began meeting with bankers to discuss returning to the market as an IPO. As an IPO, the company was estimated to be valued at $8 billion or higher. However, no deal or decision to join the public market was confirmed.
Near the end of 2019, McAfee partnered with Google Cloud to integrate McAfee's Mvision Cloud and endpoint security technology with Google's cloud infrastructure.
In October 2020, McAfee and its shareholders raised $740 million in the initial public offering and valued at about $8.6 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its prospectus. McAfee shares were traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under ticker symbol MCFE, marked its return to the public market after 9 years. In 2020, former McAfee CEO Chris Young left his position and was replaced by Peter Leav. However, the stock was delisted from NASDAQ and the company was taken private again in March 2022 by a multi-national investor group under the Advent International Corporation, consisting of the Canada Pension Plan, the Singaporean GIC Private Limited, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
2021–present
In July 2021, McAfee completed the sale of its enterprise business and subsequently focused on its consumer business.
In May 2022, Peter Leav stepped down as chief executive officer, and Greg Johnson was appointed as his successor. Johnson stepped down as CEO in 2023. In July 2024, McAfee appointed Craig Boundy as president and chief executive officer.
In October 2022, McAfee announced a partnership with Visa to provide cybersecurity services to Visa cardholders.
In February 2024, McAfee expanded its identity theft protection services. In early 2024, the company introduced an artificial intelligence-based threat detection system. In August 2024, McAfee introduced a tool for detecting deepfake content.
In October 2024, McAfee partnered with Yahoo News to incorporate McAfee's technology for identifying potentially AI-generated images into Yahoo News' content review process.
In May 2025, McAfee introduced an AI-powered scam detection tool for identifying suspected scam attempts in text messages, email and video on mobile devices and Windows PCs.
In May 2025, McAfee launched the "Keep It Real" initiative, which included advertising and accounts from people describing their experiences with scams.
From Wikipedia’s article on McAfee, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8