But the marriage was disastrous. NAI tried to force PGP into a closed-source, enterprise-sales model, alienating the open-source community. Developers inside PGP revolted. By 2001, NAI management, under new CEO George Samenuk, decided to exit the cryptography business entirely. In , NAI announced it would discontinue development of PGP. That decision sparked an outcry, leading to a management buyout. In August 2002 , a group of investors including PGP’s original founders bought the assets back, forming PGP Corporation as an independent entity. This decoupling is critical: PGP left the Network Associates orbit just as NAI was rethinking its entire strategy.

| Date | Event | |------|-------| | Feb 1998 | Helix Software Company acquired by Network General | | Dec 1997 | McAfee Associates merges with Network General → forms Network Associates (NAI) | | Dec 1997 | NAI acquires PGP, Inc. | | Mar 2002 | NAI discontinues PGP; assets sold back to form PGP Corporation | | Feb 2003 | NAI sells Helix’s Landesk to private equity → becomes Landesk Software (later Ivanti) | | Mar 2004 | NAI sells Network General (Sniffer) business | | Jul 2004 | Network Associates renames to McAfee, Inc. | | Apr 2010 | McAfee, Inc. announces acquisition of PGP Corporation | | Jun 2010 | McAfee completes PGP acquisition (PGP returns to McAfee) | | 2011 | Intel acquires McAfee, Inc. |

For the next six years, PGP Corporation thrived independently, acquiring other crypto firms (like Guardian Edge). Meanwhile, McAfee, Inc. grew into a $5 billion security giant, but it lacked native, strong encryption. In , Intel announced a blockbuster acquisition of McAfee for $7.68 billion. But before that closed, McAfee itself needed to fill its encryption gap.

Helix Software Company Merge Mcafee Network General Pgp Date 【CERTIFIED · 2025】

But the marriage was disastrous. NAI tried to force PGP into a closed-source, enterprise-sales model, alienating the open-source community. Developers inside PGP revolted. By 2001, NAI management, under new CEO George Samenuk, decided to exit the cryptography business entirely. In , NAI announced it would discontinue development of PGP. That decision sparked an outcry, leading to a management buyout. In August 2002 , a group of investors including PGP’s original founders bought the assets back, forming PGP Corporation as an independent entity. This decoupling is critical: PGP left the Network Associates orbit just as NAI was rethinking its entire strategy.

| Date | Event | |------|-------| | Feb 1998 | Helix Software Company acquired by Network General | | Dec 1997 | McAfee Associates merges with Network General → forms Network Associates (NAI) | | Dec 1997 | NAI acquires PGP, Inc. | | Mar 2002 | NAI discontinues PGP; assets sold back to form PGP Corporation | | Feb 2003 | NAI sells Helix’s Landesk to private equity → becomes Landesk Software (later Ivanti) | | Mar 2004 | NAI sells Network General (Sniffer) business | | Jul 2004 | Network Associates renames to McAfee, Inc. | | Apr 2010 | McAfee, Inc. announces acquisition of PGP Corporation | | Jun 2010 | McAfee completes PGP acquisition (PGP returns to McAfee) | | 2011 | Intel acquires McAfee, Inc. | helix software company merge mcafee network general pgp date

For the next six years, PGP Corporation thrived independently, acquiring other crypto firms (like Guardian Edge). Meanwhile, McAfee, Inc. grew into a $5 billion security giant, but it lacked native, strong encryption. In , Intel announced a blockbuster acquisition of McAfee for $7.68 billion. But before that closed, McAfee itself needed to fill its encryption gap. But the marriage was disastrous