Avast to buy antivirus rival AVG for $1.3 billion

swarfega · 07 Jul 2016

I like and occasionally use both products but this is a sad day for competition.

BunnyJ · 07 Jul 2016

Now I wonder if AVG will still exist or will they be merged into Avast?? I for sure hope that AVG is allowed to keep on going. It's a darn good tool.

sgtaylor5 · 07 Jul 2016

Both AV vendors get just a little bit too aggressive in controlling how you use your computer, but I've seen more problems with AVG. I normally don't tell my customers to switch antivirus vendors, but sometimes I have to. I had a customer a few years ago that had purchased AVG Internet Security and who also had a very high end copy of QuickBooks Enterprise. He couldn't use the same company file on two computers because AVG blocked that ability. No ability to open any ports in AVG, either, to fix the problem. I switched him to ESET.

bobad · 07 Jul 2016

I'm stunned that AVG is worth over a billion, and that Alwil has the money to buy them.

I use 360, but I hate to see the loss of competition.

Slartybart · 07 Jul 2016

z3r010 said:

more:- Avast to buy antivirus rival AVG for $1.3 billioReadn | WIRED UK

Wow! and Meh!
There is still plenty of competition out there
Consumer antivirus software providers for Windows
-> maybe that's why the two giants are merging, er Avast is acquiring AVG.

.....
This confusion is because the companies are so very similar. Both company names start with the letters “AV”. Both started in the late 1980s and were amongst the first few companies formed to fight the viruses and malware nearly 30 years ago. Both are historically Czech: Avast was founded in Prague and is still based there while AVG was historically in Brno, the two largest cities in the Czech Republic. Both pioneered the free distribution of top quality security products (although to be honest, I must admit that AVG was first and we followed). Both make great security products. Both are innovators with world class R&D teams. Both have most of their users outside of their home Czech market. Both have had similar user bases for many years: about 200M each. And most importantly, both treat their users with respect and consequently each has a large and loyal user base. One slight difference though is that while Avast is a private company, AVG is public and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In spite of this one difference, these companies are so similar that it is only natural that they be combined and that is what we are now planning on doing. Under an agreement signed with AVG, Avast will be making an offer ($25 per share or about $1.3 billion in total) to buy all shares of AVG’s stock which AVG’s board is recommending their shareholders accept. If the AVG shareholders do accept, following the various governmental regulators approvals, AVG will become part of Avast and we will jointly work on a great future together. We expect this to take a few months. Now this process is much more complex than this simple description and there are a lot of rules and regulations about the process and what we can say, etc. As a result, at the bottom of this blog entry you will find a page of important disclosures that you should read if you are a shareholder, contemplating being a shareholder, or are just curious.
.....

Source: Avast and AVG: A Future Together

Perhaps the new entity will be called AVgast

larc919 · 07 Jul 2016

Bad news! This probably means an end to AVG super deals. I'm now just starting the 4th year of essentially free AVG Antivirus Pro. I have been able to buy 2 years of protection for 3 PCs twice and get a rebate both times for the same amount I paid. Only cost was stamps to send for the rebates.

Berton · 07 Jul 2016

It's a -1 for me.

Grizzly · 07 Jul 2016

I used to have AVG for a long time, even as paid version. Then one day it let something through which was known for years and also slowed my email way too much. That was the end for AVG on my computers then switching to AVAST. Meanwhile AVAST became quite the resource hog and grew up to be pretty good bloatware (safe browser and other stuff that is installed automatically without my consent).

Molyy · 07 Jul 2016

If you can't beat them, buy them!