McAfee files for $57.5 million IPO

Network Associates' McAfee.com, a computer security software maker, files to raise as much as $57.5 million dollars in an initial public offering.

Feb. 7, 2002 12:55 p.m. PT

2 min read

WASHINGTON--Network Associates' McAfee.com, which runs a Web site that helps consumers maintain and protect their personal computers, filed to raise as much as $57.5 million dollars in an initial public offering.

The Santa Clara, California-based Network Associates is a maker of computer security software, including McAfee Total Virus Defense.

McAfee, which incorporated last December, plans to sell Class A common shares, according to its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Network Associates shares were unchanged at 21.63 in early afternoon trading.

Visitors to the McAfee Web site can check their computers and remove viruses, check for Year 2000 compliance, and make other fixes and upgrades. More than six million users from more than 230 countries have registered with the Web site, the filing said.

McAfee said it makes money from products, software, and subscriptions sold by its online store and retail distributors. These include Beyond.com, whose sales of software licenses provided about 42 percent of McAfee's net revenue in the first half of this year.

McAfee didn't disclose the number of shares it plans to offer or the price it hopes to get for them. Those figures will be disclosed in a subsequent filing. The $57.5 million figure for maximum proceeds was an estimate used to calculate an SEC registration fee.

Srivats Sampath, 40, is McAfee's president and chief executive officer, and William Larson, 43, is the firm's board chairman, according to the filing. Sampath was most recently vice president of worldwide marketing at Network Associates, and before that was an executive at Netscape Communications. Larson is also CEO, president, and board chairman of Network Associates, the filing said.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and BancBoston Robertson Stephens & Co. will underwrite the stock sale with Hambrecht & Quist. McAfee wants to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "MCAF."