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Company

McAfee

42 articles – decelerating

A roughly $14B 2021 take-private shifted McAfee’s coverage from a post-Intel cybersecurity business into a private-software barometer amid 2026 AI-selloff fears.

Who they are

McAfee appears in this coverage as a consumer and enterprise cybersecurity software company, cited both for threat research and as a competitive force in security markets. Its corporate history is framed by Intel’s $7.68B acquisition, subsequent re-emergence as an independent company, and private-equity ownership involving Advent International and Permira.

The recent arc

The coverage peak in late 2020 centered on cybersecurity’s collective response to ransomware: McAfee joined Microsoft and 17 other firms in the Ransomware Task Force. Attention then shifted sharply in late 2021 to dealmaking, as the Financial Times reported advanced talks for a take-private transaction and Bloomberg reported Advent International’s agreement to acquire McAfee in a deal valued at about $14B including roughly $4B of debt.

The tension

McAfee sits between legacy security-market competition and changing buyer and investor expectations. The UK CMA’s provisional clearance of NortonLifeLock’s $8B Avast merger explicitly pointed to competition from McAfee and others, while coverage also connects McAfee to CrowdStrike through former McAfee CTO George Kurtz; CrowdStrike’s Windows outage made that lineage newly visible.

Why it matters

If the current trajectory holds, McAfee’s significance may increasingly be measured not only by security research, such as its discovery of 16 malicious Google Play clicker apps with more than 20M downloads, but by how a privately owned software business performs under AI-driven valuation pressure. Its early 2026 earnings disclosure alongside other private software companies suggests investors are testing whether established security vendors can reassure markets during the so-called SaaSpocalypse; whether that concern persists remains uncertain.

McAfee has appeared in 42 articles since 2006-05. Coverage peaked in 2020Q4 with 4 articles. Frequently mentioned alongside Intel, Crowdstrike, John McAfee, Reuters.

Articles
42
mentions
Velocity
-33.3%
growth rate
Acceleration
-2.333
velocity change
Sources
36
publications

Coverage Timeline

2026-02-18
2026-02-17
Bloomberg

Some private software companies including McAfee released earnings early to reassure investors worried about an AI-linked selloff, dubbed the “SaaSpocalypse”

A handful of software firms including McAfee have released their earnings ahead of schedule in a bid to convince lenders …

2024-07-28
Wall Street Journal 1 related

A profile of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, who co-founded CrowdStrike in 2011 after departing as McAfee's CTO following Intel's acquisition of McAfee for $7.68B

but never like this Threads: Tae Kim / @firstadopter : TIL the CEO of CrowdStrike is an accountant.  —  RE: https://www.threads.net/...  [image] Tae Kim / @firstadopter : In 2010, McAfee had an eerily...

2024-07-27
Wall Street Journal 1 related

A profile of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, who co-founded CrowdStrike in 2011 after departing as McAfee's CTO following Intel's acquisition of McAfee for $7.68B

'A piece of software shouldn't be able to take everything out,' says George Kurtz  —  CrowdStrike Chief Executive George Kurtz answered … Mastodon: @Kierkegaanks@beige.party Mastodon: @Kierkegaanks@be...

2024-07-20
The Verge 121 related

BSODs hit thousands of Windows PCs due to “a defect” in an update from CrowdStrike, taking banks, airlines, and more businesses offline; Microsoft is aware

or CrowdStrike Microsoft : HELPFUL LINKS  —  Get notified of outages that impact you  —  Building reliable applications on Azure The Record : IT teams scramble to recover from CrowdStrike incident as ...

2022-10-23
BleepingComputer 2 related

McAfee security researchers found 16 clicker apps in Google Play with 20M+ downloads in total; Google removed the adware apps after McAfee reported them

Security researchers at McAfee have discovered a set of 16 malicious clicker apps that managed to sneak into Google Play, the official app store for Android.

2022-08-04
2022-08-03
Financial Times 6 related

In a U-turn, the UK's CMA provisionally agrees to the $8B merger between Avast and NortonLifeLock, citing “significant competition” from McAfee and others

Avast shares rise more than 40% after CMA provisionally agrees $8bn merger with US rival

2021-11-08
Bloomberg 11 related

Advent International agrees to take McAfee private in a deal worth $14B, including about $4B in debt

An investor group led by buyout firms Advent International Corp., Permira Advisers and others agreed to take McAfee Corp. private in a deal that values the cybersecurity software maker at more than $1...

2021-11-07
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Quarterly Coverage

Top Sources

Narrative

TEXXR tracks 47 tech news articles mentioning McAfee, dating back to February 2015. The biggest stories include John McAfee has died by suicide in a Spanish jail cell, according to his lawyer, hours... and Software pioneer McAfee files paperwork to run for president. Frequently covered alongside Intel, John McAfee, Avast, Advent International, and Symantec.

Key Moments

2025Q4enterprise +100pts; funding -100pts
2026Q1enterprise -100pts; funding +100pts

Relationships

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