Symantec To Acquire Veritas For $13.5 BillionSymantec To Acquire Veritas For $13.5 Billion

Symantec Corp. and Veritas Software Corp. on Thursday disclosed an agreement to merge in a stock transaction valued at $13.5 billion.

The deal will combine Symantec's IT security products with Veritas' data-storage software, resulting in a broad product line that extends from desktop PCs to corporate data centers, the companies said in a statement. Approximately three-quarters of the combined company's business, estimated at $5 billion for fiscal 2006, will come from business customers and one-quarter from consumers.

Symantec chairman and CEO John Thompson will continue to hold the top posts in the combined company, while Veritas chairman and CEO Gary Bloom will become vice chairman and president. A new board will consist of six members of Symantec's current board and four from Veritas. The deal has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

"The new Symantec will help customers balance the need to both secure their information and make it available, thus ensuring its integrity," Thompson said in a statement. "We believe that information integrity provides the most cost-effective, responsive way to keep businesses up, running and growing in the face of system failures, Internet threats, or natural disasters."

Citing IDC data, the companies said their combined markets are in the range of $35 billion and projected to grow to $56 billion by 2007. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2005.