McAfee Enterprise and FireEye Merge After STG Buyout

McAfee Enterprise and FireEye Products, two companies that have built out massive MSP and MSSP partner ecosystems, will merge under the ownership of private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG). The combined businesses serve 40,000 customers, maintain 5,000 employees and generate nearly $2 billion in annual revenues, according to STG.

Finalization of the merger is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of this year, said STG. The move stands to have major implications for the companies' combined ecosystem of MSP and MSSP partners who are heavily invested in the enterprise space the combined company will now focus on. Bryan Palma of FireEye will act as CEO of the new combined company, while McAfee's Ian Halifax will be CFO.

“I am energized to lead the integration of McAfee Enterprise and FireEye Products into the next chapter of our shared journey," said Palma, who was previously president and COO of BlackBerry and also worked at Boeing and Cisco Systems. "Our customers need an integrated security platform powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation. We have an incredibly talented team of security professionals who will work tirelessly to deliver this outcome for our customers.”

“Cyber risk is the number one threat facing modern organizations and we are excited to advance our growing portfolio of cybersecurity companies," added William Chisholm, co-founder and managing partner of STG. "McAfee’s Enterprise business has been integral to ensuring the protection of the digital assets of the largest enterprises in the world, with over 85 percent of the Fortune 100 firms being customers today.”

FireEye's sale to STG was finalized in June in a $1.2 billion cash transaction. The move separated the company's network, email, endpoint and cloud security products as well as its related security management and orchestration platform from its controls-agnostic software and services. The latter offerings are being offered through Mandiant, Inc. as part of a rebranding. The company's name change went into effect earlier this week.