One month after its provisional approval, the proposed $8.1 billion merger between Avast and NortonLifeLock, two global cybersecurity giants, has been officially cleared by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The deal was originally announced in August 2021, before the CMA announced its launch of an investigation into competition concerns raised by the merger earlier this year. Both companies are leaders in cybersecurity, each with products spanning antivirus, identity protection, VPNs, and more.
In the intervening months, however, the CMA withdrew its competition concerns, citing Microsoft’s growing collection of cybersecurity software solutions as one reason. The Seattle-based software titan’s Defender-branded security software suite has branched out from enterprises into the individual market, as well as a standalone edition for businesses. The existence of these options, as well as products by McAfee and other competitors, is evidence that users are less reliant on either Avast or NortonLifeLock, according to the CMA.
The resulting combined company will operate as NortonLifeLock Inc. until a new name is chosen to reflect the vision of its newly-merged venture. The namesake company is based in Tempe, Arizona, whereas Avast is headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic.
