As you can see, I stayed away from making any comments... but I did make some comments to PC Mag here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368056,00.asp More likely is the fact that the MBAs drove a good part of this decision: http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/19/technology/intel_mcafee_deal/ "Value for Intel shareholders." Intel has $17.8 billion cash on hand, which is just sitting there, earning very little for the company's shareholders. So what to do with that cash? Intel could buy a company that it thinks will generate income for its investors. Ken Hackel, president of CreditTrends.com and author of Security Valuation and Risk Analysis, estimated that Intel's total cost of capital on the McAfee purchase would be about 4%, but the cash return on its invested capital would probably be around 8%.Software in general is a much higher-margin business than hardware, and McAfee is no exception, with a gross margin near 75%. Intel's is around 55%. Other than that, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Intel has had a weak track record buying software companies, and many are scratching their heads. Alex From: Andy Shook [mailto:andy.sh...@peak10.com] Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 9:21 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.68 billion Mr. Alex E., If you're lurking, I'd love to hear\read what you think.... Shook From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:asbz...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 9:17 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.68 billion Yow!!! Now that is a huge surprise. I'm not sure what to be more scared about: -- That Intel feels it needs integrated security solutions -- That it feels that McCrappy was the best organization to purchase to get that capability -- That we might have integrated McCrappy on our systems whether we like it or not in a few months/years -- That AMD or other chipmakers might do something similar to avoid being left behind. ASB (My XeeSM Profile)<http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage... Signature powered by WiseStamp<http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install> On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 9:02 AM, Simon Butler <si...@sembee.co.uk<mailto:si...@sembee.co.uk>> wrote: Here is a surprise... http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-20014082-92.html?tag=nl.e498 Simon. -- Simon Butler MVP: Exchange, MCSE Sembee Ltd. e: si...@sembee.co.uk<mailto:si...@sembee.co.uk> w: http://www.sembee.co.uk/ w: http://www.amset.info/ w: http://blog.sembee.co.uk/ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
