NODE 859fdf63PGP Inc Sold for $35M - News Flash
Vin McLellan <vin@shore.net>Tue, 2 Dec 1997 06:47:28 +0800
<News Alert, from C/Net's News.Com>
"PGP acquired by merged security software firm.
"Pretty Good Privacy, an encryption company foundered by crypto pioneer
Phil Zimmermann, has been acquired by Network Associates, the result of the
merger of McAfee Associates and Network General, which closed today.
"Network Associates will pay $35 million in cash for PGP. "
--
No confirmation or further information available on the PGP, McAfee, or
Network General web pages. _Vin
Vin McLellan + The Privacy Guild + <vin@shore.net>
53 Nichols St., Chelsea, MA 02150 USA <617> 884-5548
-- <@><@> --
NODE c1b5ad61Re: PGP Inc Sold for $35M - News Flash
Alan <alan@ctrl-alt-del.com>Tue, 2 Dec 1997 09:25:28 +0800
On Mon, 1 Dec 1997, Vin McLellan wrote:
> <News Alert, from C/Net's News.Com>
>
> "PGP acquired by merged security software firm.
>
> "Pretty Good Privacy, an encryption company foundered by crypto pioneer
> Phil Zimmermann, has been acquired by Network Associates, the result of the
> merger of McAfee Associates and Network General, which closed today.
>
> "Network Associates will pay $35 million in cash for PGP. "
Not good news. As I remember McAfee was one of the "Key Recovery Aliance
Partners".
"Everyoner has their price." - Guy Grand
alan@ctrl-alt-del.com | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply
Alan Olsen | to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys.
NODE 6682613bRe: PGP Inc Sold for $35M - News Flash
"William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@invweb.net>Tue, 2 Dec 1997 12:14:38 +0800
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
In <Pine.LNX.3.95.971201181053.19756A-100000@www.ctrl-alt-del.com>, on
12/01/97
at 06:13 PM, Alan <alan@ctrl-alt-del.com> said:
>On Mon, 1 Dec 1997, Vin McLellan wrote:
>> <News Alert, from C/Net's News.Com>
>>
>> "PGP acquired by merged security software firm.
>>
>> "Pretty Good Privacy, an encryption company foundered by crypto pioneer
>> Phil Zimmermann, has been acquired by Network Associates, the result of the
>> merger of McAfee Associates and Network General, which closed today.
>>
>> "Network Associates will pay $35 million in cash for PGP. "
>Not good news. As I remember McAfee was one of the "Key Recovery Aliance
>Partners".
They sure are. :(
This does not look good at all. :(((
http://www.kra.org/roster.html
Key Recovery Alliance Members
* = Charter Members
America Online, Inc.
Apple Computer, Inc. *
American Express Corp.
Atalla *
Baltimore Technologies
Boeing
Candle Corporation
CertCo
Certicom
Compaq Computer Corp.
Cryptomathic
CygnaCom Sulutions, Inc.
Cylink Corp.
DASCOM, Inc.
Data Securities International, Inc.
Digital Equipment Corporation *
Digital Secured Networks Technology, Inc.
Digital Signature Trust Company
Entrust Technologies
First Data Corp.
Fort Knox Escrow Services, Inc.
Frontier Technologies Corp.
Fujitsu, Ltd.
GemPlus
Gradient Technologies, Inc.
Groupe Bull *
Hewlett-Packard *
Hitachi
IBM *
ICL
IRE
Intel Corporation
McAfee
Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan
Mitsubishi Electric America
Motorola
Mykotronx
Mytec Technologies, Inc.
nCipher Corp.
NCC Escrow
NCR Corporation *
NEC
Network Systems Group of Storage Tek
Novell, Inc.
Open Horizon, Inc.
Portland Software
PSA
Price Waterhouse
Racal Data Group
Rainbow Technologies
RedCreek Communications
RPK
RSA *
SafeNet Trusted Services, Corp.
Secure Computing Corporation
Siemens AG
Silicon Graphics, Inc.
SourceFile
Spyrus
Sterling Commerce
Sun Microsystems *
Tandem
Technical Communications Corp.
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Toshiba
Trusted Information Systems, Inc. *
Unisys
UPS *
Utimaco Mergent
VPNet Technologies
- --
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
William H. Geiger III http://users.invweb.net/~whgiii
Geiger Consulting Cooking With Warp 4.0
Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice
PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail.
OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://users.invweb.net/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.3a-sha1
Charset: cp850
Comment: Registered_User_E-Secure_v1.1b1_ES000000
iQCVAwUBNIOJJo9Co1n+aLhhAQJlJAP9FL+MvHla+Xpa4ZPKFNcLT0IUp8QYs/QR
UG912fUE3vn3KhOAE6Vv3wDfafREKWlzbFwCz3WbnKEv09G9vCAJ+YiXo2QWs3sQ
W6WD6ucf0+I1DFtoPJ9jLqWecKw//XMeLbdnNvH9Fxp4eR0zEzz57LNzTzJBqfID
/tuRl/GbQhw=
=w6jw
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
NODE 7bdfa951Re: PGP Inc Sold for $35M - News Flash
Vin McLellan <vin@shore.net>Tue, 2 Dec 1997 12:33:06 +0800
WSJ Article, by Lisa Bransten (WSJ Interactive Edition)
"McAfee Announces Name Change, Acquisition of Pretty Good Privacy"
McAfee Associates Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., maker of
network-security software, said Monday that it agreed to acquire
Pretty Good Privacy Inc., a privately held maker of encryption
software, in a deal valued at $36 million.
Separately, McAfee completed its acquisition of Network General and
said it was officially changing its name to Network Associates Inc.
[snip...]
One investment banker estimated PGP's revenue at almost $8 million
this year and at as much as $18 million next year. [Network Associates
Chairman and CE0 Bill] Larson said Network Associates made an all-cash
offer for PGP because of the low price of shares of McAfee (now
Network Associates).
Mr. Larson called the acquisition "a reflection of how significant
an opportunity we see in the security market." Mr. Larson called PGP
a "neophyte" but also "a strategic player" in security software,
adding that Network Associates "will be a player in this market."
[snip...]
PGP, based in San Mateo, Calif., was once a leading contender for an
initial public offering but ran into troubles in the middle of the
year as sales stagnated and a planned acquisition of software
company Zoomit Corp. fell apart. Zoomit makes software that allows
for easy communication across different networks.
PGP founder and chief technologist Philip Zimmermann has developed
something of a cult following among software programmers and
cyber-rights activists since the early 1990s, when he started giving
away his Pretty Good Privacy program, which allows computer users to
encrypt electronic messages sent over the Internet.
Mr. Zimmermann distributed the software for free in order to get it
into the most users' hands amid growing concerns that governments
would try to limit the use of encryption technology, fearful that
such technology would stymie law-enforcement agencies' efforts.
Appetite for the software proved large and millions of copies of the
software were downloaded by users around the world.
Mr. Zimmermann's case became a cause celebre among activists when
the Justice Department opened an investigation of him for allowing
the software to be distributed internationally. Although the
government allows the use of such encryption technologies in the
U.S., it doesn't allow the export of strong-encryption software
except in special circumstances.
In 1996, the government dropped its investigation of Mr. Zimmermann,
and in March of that year he and several partners incorporated PGP
to sell commercial versions of the software to large corporations
interested in security. Mr. Zimmermann will stay with the company as
a Network Associates Fellow.
[snip...]
"We get a great group of leading cryptographers," [Larsen] said. "There
are very few of these people in the world, and PGP has always been a
magnet for [them.]"
PGP, which has about 50 employees, has fought to have its encryption
software adopted as a standard, but software giants Microsoft Corp.
and Netscape Communications Corp. have both licensed the encryption
software of PGP rival RSA Data Security Inc., which was itself
purchased last year by Security Dynamics Technologies Inc.
Before Monday's announcement, several observers had said that PGP
and McAfee would be a logical combination because companies are
looking for software that can address more than one of their
security and networking needs. Also, PGP's encryption technology and
large installed user base could bolster McAfee's recent entry into
that field, they said.
PGP has "good brand recognition and good technology, but no
marketing muscle," said one industry watcher. "If PGP's encryption
standard is going to compete, they need a distribution partner like
McAfee behind them."
Shares of Network Associates will begin trading under the new Nasdaq
symbol NETA on Tuesday.
/end - WSJ Interactive, Bransten text/
Vin McLellan + The Privacy Guild + <vin@shore.net>
53 Nichols St., Chelsea, MA 02150 USA <617> 884-5548
-- <@><@> --