Avast Completes 1.3 Billion AVG Acquisition

Published: October 4, 2016 4:53 PM /

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In terms of free anti-virus software, there are two that likely get used more than any other: Avast and AVG. Back in July, Avast announced the acquisition of rival AVG for $1.3 billion. Back on September 30th, the deals were done and hashed out, leading to Avast and AVG operating as a single entity as of yesterday.

With their userbases combined, Avast now has some 400 million accounts, according to those press releases. Where Avast's competition was largely its rival AVG, they now have to seriously worry more about the likes of Symantec, Microsoft, and the other heavy-hitters in the antivirus world.

Avast and AVG are both Czech-based companies that were created within four years of each other. Speaking to TechCrunch, Avast CEO Vince Steckler said this was not the first time Avast has approached AVG to combine the companies. This time, however, AVG was finally convinced.

With it, of course, will come more money and potential revenue streams, but Steckler also mentions that there will be more data. More data will then lead to better technology, and so on.

Acquiring AVG brings with it a whole host of other things to help improve Avast as well, as while the two are antivirus providers, they operated in vastly different ways. The biggest example of that is that AVG had put a lot of effort towards the mobile market, where Avast has not done so much in the past.

Streckler had much more to say to TechCrunch about what the acquisition means for Avast moving forward, so check that out if you are interested.

As of now, the two companies are one and the same, so we should all keep an eye out in the future for changes, developments, and more.

What do you think of the acquisition? Do you use either antivirus? What do you think this means for other antivirus software out there? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Andrew Otton
| Editor in Chief

Andrew is the Editor in Chief at TechRaptor. Conned into a love of gaming by Nintendo at a young age, Andrew has been chasing the dragon spawned by Super… More about Andrew