Avast WEBforum
Other => General Topics => Topic started by: Deborah S. on July 07, 2016, 10:29:50 AM
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Announcement from Avast CEO, Vince Steckler:
As many of you know, there are two security companies that often get confused: Avast and AVG. Shortly after I started as CEO almost 8 years ago, I remember giving a presentation to a large audience about Avast. About an hour later, a gentleman walked up to me and complimented me on how good the presentation was and how he enjoyed hearing about AVG. That was my first lesson in how easy the companies are to confuse.
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.
The process does not allow us to talk a lot about how we would operate after combining, etc. so I can just say a little. I do think this combination is great for our users. We will have over 250 million PC/Mac users enabling us to gather even more threat data to improve the protection to our users. In mobile, our combined 160 million mobile users will be used to improve protection as well as to provide an important stepping stone into the Internet of things. Additionally, we will be gaining some exciting mobile technology designed to protect families on line. In SMB, we will be better able to support our business users with a larger geographic footprint, better technical support, and the best technologies from our two companies.
Our website (and AVG’s) contains a lot more information about this transaction—the press release, FAQs, etc. As we are allowed during the process, we will convey to you, our users and customers, all the information that we are allowed. Most importantly though, I assure you that we value every single Avast and AVG user and will do our best in the future to keep you protected and to keep your trust.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking information that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include those related to, among other things: general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which Parent, Buyer and the Company operate; and the parties' ability to satisfy the conditions to the contemplated tender offer and consummate the transactions described in this communication; and the Company's performance and maintenance of important business relationships. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and neither Parent, Buyer nor the Company assumes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
The tender offer referenced in this communication has not yet commenced. This communication is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any ordinary shares of the Company or any other securities. The solicitation and offer to purchase ordinary shares of the Company will only be made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase, a related letter of transmittal and certain other tender offer documents. At the time the tender offer is commenced, Parent and Buyer will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, including an Offer to Purchase, a related letter of transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, and the Company will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9, with the SEC, each with respect to the tender offer. The Company’s shareholders are urged to read the tender offer statement and Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, as they may be amended from time to time, as well as any other relevant documents filed with the SEC, when they become available, carefully and in their entirety because they will contain important information that holders of the Company’s securities should consider before making any decision regarding tendering their securities. The Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, will be made available to all holders of ordinary shares of the Company at no expense to them from the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
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Interesting times ahead :)
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This is not good for Avast!. >:( you can do it with Avira also but not with AVG!!!
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-07/avast-to-buy-avg-for-1-3-billion-adding-security-software
https://blog.avast.com/avast-and-avg-a-future-together
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Wow, I had to read this twice. This was certainly unexpected to be quite honest.
Since this will take a while, I wonder how things will merge technologically. AVG certainly has few things that avast! badly lacks, behavior blocker being one of them. Their cloud infrastructure also seems reasonably capable considering the performance bump they made after introduction of it. I just hope they'll skip the god awful AVG's GUI and Zen part of it, I don't want any of that in avast! portfolio.
Expecting bigger changes to happen for avast! 2018 version if things go as planned for them. v2017 will go mostly unchanged from the planned stuff they are already working on this moment...
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This is also certainly unexpected to be as well. Well to start things off. My desktop is Windows 7 SP1 and I have been using AVG Free for many years now! It has never let me down on protection and as RejZor mentioned it's behavior blocking is really good so as their cloud infrastructure. Till now I am still using AVG. AVG GUI for me needs to be improved though at the moment it is alright but I am neutral on the Zen part. Awesome news from both AVG and Avast! Looking forward for the bigger changes to come :D. Thanks Deborah S. for this amazing news :)
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Only have to take privacy seriously with AVG then it will be great. ;)
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More here: http://investors.avg.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=250967&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2182521
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This is not good for Avast!. >:( you can do it with Avira also but not with AVG!!!
I hadn't read all of it yet - the Title was enough - I don't like it either. I thought I had escaped AVG a little over 12 years ago.
I don't see what AVG brings to the party other than user numbers and is that worth $1.3 billion ???
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Taking the best parts from each company/program and building something with their combined expertise should result in some nice benefits all round I think :)
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Welcome AVG users!
We want to share the better of our both worlds :)
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(http://dl7.glitter-graphics.net/pub/1977/1977207zbzmi2r65k.gif) (http://www.glitter-graphics.com)(http://dl2.glitter-graphics.net/pub/107/107172c64ov9ny00.gif) (http://www.glitter-graphics.com) I'm getting a very bad feeling about Avast & AVG together in the future and I don't like it not one bit, I gave up Norton as a money HOG and I gave up AVG for crap service and protection.
Avast you're becoming a bloody fool with AVG (http://dl7.glitter-graphics.net/pub/1732/1732987a0eibsany4.gif) (http://www.glitter-graphics.com) and you're making me very sick
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This is not good for Avast!. >:( you can do it with Avira also but not with AVG!!!
I hadn't read all of it yet - the Title was enough - I don't like it either. I thought I had escaped AVG a little over 12 years ago.
I don't see what AVG brings to the party other than user numbers and is that worth $1.3 billion ???
I am with you.I also ditch AVG 6 years ago and came to Avast!.Many good things to invest money like WinAntiRansom(Ruiware) and Improvment of Avast! HIPS.AVAST! invest $1.3 billion On AVG. This is the big news on CYBERWORLD.
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/avast-to-acquire-avg-in-13-billion-internet-security-deal-858236 (http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/avast-to-acquire-avg-in-13-billion-internet-security-deal-858236)
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Congratulations AVG! You're moving up in the world.
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If Avast! take Kaspersky then it will be nice.But no need to put $1.3 billion On AVG.
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Yes very interesting times to come.
Regardless of what users on either side feel/think or say.....It's a done deal! 8)
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Personally, I don't think it's a good decision and I don't know what can avast take from AVG except a huge user base, but let's see and wait...
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Taking the best parts from each company/program and building something with their combined expertise should result in some nice benefits all round I think :)
I think the money guys came up with this idea and not the programmers.
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Congratulations to Avast and AVG! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-07/avast-to-buy-avg-for-1-3-billion-adding-security-software
Now my 2 favorite Antivirus/Security programs will enhance one another and become even better! I was very excited to read this! ;D
I use Avast Internet Security on my desktop and notebook computers, it makes me feel safe with it's deep scanning ability and tight internet security. I use AVG (both free and premium) on my Android mobile devices! I find AVG to be much lighter, quicker and more agile on the small devices than Avast!
I'm excited to see what the new merged company comes out with! ;D
I hope that this merger will see Avast! taking the whole company public (since AVG is publicly traded) so we can all make some money on the merger! ;)
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You guys are so negative!! Had no idea.
I'm also very surprised. I've never been a fan of AVG. However, I'm sure AVG has it's advantages (A few respected members have commented on the Cloud Based Behavioral Analysis being decent). However, with both companies having 200M users, that's a significant jump in a user base.
Congrats to both sides, and although I no longer continue with security software (except MBAM, which runs maybe once a month). I definitely wish you guys the best in this merge.
Edit: I will say this, Avast! & AVG, when you merge, DO NOT INCLUDE THE GOD AWFUL NOTIFICATIONS AVG PUTS ON YOUR SCREEN. It's literally the #1 most annoying thing about AVG for me.
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Hi guys,
FYI, I summarized some of my ideas over at Wilders. Feel free to contribute there or continue here, if you wish.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/avast-acquires-antivirus-maker-avg-for-1-3bn.386973/page-3#post-2602521
Thanks
Vlk
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Hi guys,
FYI, I summarized some of my ideas over at Wilders. Feel free to contribute there or continue here, if you wish.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/avast-acquires-antivirus-maker-avg-for-1-3bn.386973/page-3#post-2602521
Thanks
Vlk
Thanks for posting there and here. I really think you'll have to go deeper in the technology to join/merge things and features. It will take a while. I really hope this does not delay the CC improvements here (and posting some results of these improvements). Right now, not all of us are betting in this technology. Despite the recent better results of AVG in AV-Comparatives, we all know they have much more false positives in the past and they're not known as having the best proactive technology. Am I wrong?
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Is Avast! using both AVG and Avast! engine in the same product(Avast!)like Emsisoft did Bitdefender+Emsisoft's own? It would be great. :)@Vlk.Pls don't put AVG's Tuneup and AVG's Zen in Avast! for good.
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Wow.. This is very unexpected.. Does this mean instead of stores like Walmart selling AVG products in the future I'll be most likely seeing Avast premier, and Avast Internet Security, etc?
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Wow.. This is very unexpected.. Does this mean instead of stores like Walmart selling AVG products in the future I'll be most likely seeing Avast premier, and Avast Internet Security, etc?
This might not be so rare anymore ??? :) :
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=78426.msg647360#msg647360 (https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=78426.msg647360#msg647360)
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Out of curiosity! This afternoon I went to AVG Community about Avast buying AVG and how their software will come together in terms with users installing it and will there be no AVG website because Avast bought up AVG. Also I asked when AVG will release it's 2017 version. I also asked them that my other computer (desktop) it got AVG Free and will I have to uninstall AVG Free to install Avast, because Avast bought up AVG. This is what I got from them.
"Thank you for showing interest in knowing about our 2017 version release.
The new version release is under testing now and we couldn't assure you the exact time frame of the release.
Yes, Avast acquired AVG and there might be change in the program name too but we didn't get any official information regarding this.
Please keep checking our official website http://www.avg.com/homepage to know about the latest release.
If the program name changes to Avast there shouldn't be any need of uninstalling the existing program, through a program update it will get updated".
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Hi Staticguy, latest info here: https://blog.avast.com/avast-and-avg-become-one
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Hi Asyn, yes I have seen that already! I was just curious what will happen when users who has AVG Free installed on their system and AVG 2017 got released and they do an update and then it turns out into something new and different e.g. a new name for both Avast and AVG :). Just like one of the AVG member mentioned "there might be change in the program name". Well looking forward to that when AVG 2017 gets released and see what will the new name be (if any) on my desktop computer?
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So you aren't actually using Avast :o
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@bob3160: Unfortunately, I am not using Avast anymore. Since I bought a new laptop (Windows 10) just 2 months ago, I got offered to buy Trend Micro Maximum Security 2016 then last month I got offered a free upgrade to the 2017 version (see my signature). However, my other computer (desktop) with Windows 7 SP1 it has got the AVG Free 2016 for a long time and I intend to keep AVG on the desktop computer. I was just pretty confused and concerned what will happen to my AVG Free since Avast bought it. Will there be a new name change, new program, will I need to uninstall AVG and install Avast, etc, etc. The link that you provided on the other forum https://www.the-parallax.com/2016/09/30/what-buyout-means-400-million-avast-avg-users-qa/?utm_source=parallax&utm_medium=info%20ads&utm_campaign=ParallaxQ316&utm_content=Article11BuyoutAvast%26AVG has answered my questions and concerns. So thanks for that link bob3160 :)
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My pleasure. :)
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Avast Announces Final Extension of the Offer for AVG
- Subsequent Offering Period to Expire on October 28, 2016
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161017005534/en/Avast-Announces-Final-Extension-Offer-AVG