MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and TEMPE, Ariz.— Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) and LifeLock, Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Symantec to acquire LifeLock for $24 per share or $2.3 billion in enterprise value. The deal, which was approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions including LifeLock stockholder approval.
In the last year, one third of American citizens and over 650 million people globally were the victims of cybercrime. Consequently, more and more consumers are concerned about digital safety, an estimated $10 billion market growing in the high single digits. In the United States alone, the estimated total addressable market is 80 million people.
“As we all know, consumer cybercrime has reached crisis levels. LifeLock is a leading provider of identity and fraud protection services, with over 4.4 million highly-satisfied members and growing. With the combination of Norton and LifeLock, we will be able to deliver comprehensive cyber defense for consumers,” said Greg Clark, Symantec’s CEO. “This acquisition marks the transformation of the consumer security industry from malware protection to the broader category of Digital Safety for consumers.”
Symantec’s acquisition of LifeLock brings together the #1 leader in consumer security with a leading provider of identity protection and remediation services. The combination will create the world’s largest consumer security business with over $2.2 billion* in annual revenue based on last fiscal year revenues for both companies.
“People’s identity and data are prime targets of cybercrime. The security industry must step up and defend through innovation and vigilance,” said Dan Schulman, Symantec’s Chairman of the Board. “With the acquisition of LifeLock, Symantec adds a new dimension to its protection capabilities to address the expanding needs of the consumer marketplace.”
“After a thorough review of a broad range of alternatives, our board of directors unanimously concluded that Symantec is the ideal strategic partner for LifeLock and offers our shareholders a significant premium for their investment, at closing,” said Hilary Schneider, CEO of LifeLock. “Together with Symantec we can deploy enhanced technology and analytics to provide our customers with unparalleled information and identity protection services. We are very pleased to have reached an outcome that serves the best interests of all LifeLock stakeholders.”
By offering each of the company’s respective customer bases a broader digital safety solution, Symantec expects to achieve additional revenue upside through higher ASPs and improved retention rates.
Symantec expects to finance the transaction with cash on the balance sheet and $750 million of new debt. Symantec’s board of directors has also increased the company’s share repurchase authorization from approximately $800 million to $1.3 billion, with up to $500 million in repurchases targeted by the end of fiscal 2017.
Given the expected closing in the first calendar quarter of 2017, Symantec expects the transaction to have no impact to its quarter ending December 30, 2016. The transaction is also not expected to have a material impact to Symantec’s fiscal year 2017 financial results, and the company is reaffirming its prior fiscal year 2017 financial guidance at this time: non-GAAP revenue of $4,040 – $4,120 million; non-GAAP operating margin of 27-29%; and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.12-$1.18. The company is also reaffirming its prior fiscal year 2018 non-GAAP earnings per share guidance of $1.70-$1.80. Symantec expects the transaction to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal year 2019.
The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval in the United States and LifeLock stockholder approval.
Citi and J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC are serving as co-lead financial advisors to Symantec’s Board of Directors (in alphabetical order). Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo are acting as financial advisors and are providing debt financing commitments to Symantec (in alphabetical order). Fenwick & West LLP is acting as legal advisor to Symantec in connection with the acquisition, and Fenwick & West LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP are acting as legal advisors to Symantec in connection with the debt financing. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting as financial advisor to LifeLock. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP are acting as legal advisors to LifeLock.
* Rounded down from $2.3 billion to $2.2 billion following first issue of this press release.
Conference Call
Management will discuss the details of this transaction on a conference call scheduled for Monday, November 21, 2016 at 5:30 AM PT/8:30 AM ET. Interested parties may access the conference call on the
Internet at http://www.symantec.com/invest. To listen to the live call, please go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. For telephone access to the conference, call (877) 475-6198 within the United States or (970) 297-2372 from outside the United States. Please call 15 minutes early on November 21 and give the operator conference ID number 24263402. A replay and our prepared remarks will be available on the investor relations home page shortly after the call is completed.
About Symantec
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world’s leading cyber security company, helps organizations, governments and people secure their most important data wherever it lives. Organizations across the world look to Symantec for strategic, integrated solutions to defend against sophisticated attacks across endpoints, cloud and infrastructure. Likewise, a global community of more than 50 million people and families rely on Symantec’s Norton suite of products for protection at home and across all of their devices. Symantec operates one of the world’s largest civilian cyber intelligence networks, allowing it to see and protect against the most advanced threats. For additional information, please visit www.symantec.com or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
About LifeLock
LifeLock, Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) is a leading provider of proactive identity theft protection services for consumers and consumer risk management services for enterprises. LifeLock’s threat detection, proactive identity alerts, and comprehensive remediation services help provide peace of mind for consumers amid the growing threat of identity theft. Leveraging unique data, science and patented technology from ID Analytics, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary, LifeLock offers identity theft protection that goes significantly beyond credit monitoring. As part of its commitment to help fight identity theft, LifeLock works to train law enforcement and partners with a variety of non-profit organizations to help consumers establish positive habits to combat this threat.
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