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McAfee S-1

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11–20 of 67 posts

Re: McAfee S-1

#12
post #5

I guess it begs to be asked: why has McAfee decided to IPO now as opposed to any other time in the past few decades?

McAfee has been public in one form or another for over 25 years. This S-1 is for the most recent iteration of the company, which was spun out of Intel in 2017. (McAfee, then in its NETA form, was the first public company I worked for.)

Re: McAfee S-1

#13
post #5

I guess it begs to be asked: why has McAfee decided to IPO now as opposed to any other time in the past few decades?

> why has McAfee decided to IPO now as opposed to any other time in the past few decades

All of the tech companies see where the economy is going, and they all know it's time to bunker down. Going public is a good way to raise a nice burst of cash they can sit on to get through the really bad times ahead, especially while the market is still hot enough to raise said money.

Re: McAfee S-1

#14
I really wonder who's going to buy in to McAfee. Their original founder is outspoken against them, their primary product is built into every OS these days, and they've been selling off their brand trust in exchange for revenue. Their revenue growth with their current strategy is purely optimized for short term growth with catastrophic long term outlook.

They even say they don't have a plan for what to do with their money. In their filing under "Use of Proceeds" they state their objectives with the funds are to

a.) pay back a previous loan

b.) "the remainder for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of, or investment in complementary products, technologies, solutions, or businesses, although we have no present commitments or agreements to enter into any acquisitions or investments."

This really looks like a last-ditch effort to salvage the company and pay off a loan they couldn't.

Re: McAfee S-1

#16

Shouldn't the Risk Factors section include a paragraph about the risk, nay certainty, that the eponymous founder will tarnish the company's brand by expounding on his outlandish activities (e.g. https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/106741539427993600... )?

He already has the top YouTube result for "how to uninstall McAfee"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg

If he's already doing something, and like you say its a certainty that he'll continue, is that really a risk?

Re: McAfee S-1

#17
post #14

I really wonder who's going to buy in to McAfee. Their original founder is outspoken against them, their primary product is built into every OS these days, and they've been selling off their brand trust in exchange for revenue. Their revenue growth with their current strategy is purely optimized for short term growth with catastrophic long term outlook. They even say they don't have a plan for what to do with their m…

B is boilerplate. Basically saying "we'll use the money for smart things". Everyone I've ever met seeking capital says this, I'm sure it's been in every S-1 I've read and I said the same words when I was seeking capital.

Oh, and it's non-binding so it's still possible to use the money for dumb things.

Re: McAfee S-1

#18

Shouldn't the Risk Factors section include a paragraph about the risk, nay certainty, that the eponymous founder will tarnish the company's brand by expounding on his outlandish activities (e.g. https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/106741539427993600... )?

He already has the top YouTube result for "how to uninstall McAfee" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg If he's already doing something, and like you say its a certainty that he'll continue, is that really a risk?

The risk is that it's impossible to predict what he'll do next. I don't think "Sex with a whale" was on too many people's bingo card.

Re: McAfee S-1

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He already has the top YouTube result for "how to uninstall McAfee" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg If he's already doing something, and like you say its a certainty that he'll continue, is that really a risk?

The risk is that it's impossible to predict what he'll do next. I don't think "Sex with a whale" was on too many people's bingo card.

Ok, that was weird. Here's some info for others who were thinking WTF?

https://reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/ae04as/whats_up_w...

Re: McAfee S-1

#20
Side-note; Anti-virus software is ironically quite invasive and can be harmful to your system.

They bury themselves deep into the OS and often access undocumented kernel API's which can break the OS. In some cases they [1] betray your privacy in the name of security...

I guess it's still popular because it's often part of the bloatware on new PC's and Laptops...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20703699

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