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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, June 12: Dr Solomon’s, the leading anti-virus brand in India and a major player in the world market, has taken over by Network Associates (formed by the merger of McAfee and Network General).
Dr Solomon’s is the leader in the Indian anti-virus market with an approximate turnover of approximately around Rs 3 crore for 1997-98. This is almost double of its closest rival Microworld who had a turnover of Rs 1.2 crore for the same period. Globally, for the nine months ending on February 28, 1998 on an unaudited basis, Dr Solomon’s recorded a net profit of $ 6.9 million, based on revenues of $41.5 million. In India, Dr Solomon’s is currently distributed by N&N Systems among other leading distributors. They have a line of anti-virus toolkits in the market for various operating systems and netware. For example, the most recent version of the Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit can detect and identify more than 19,000 known computer viruses.
Talking of the Indian anti-virus market scene, Dr Solomon’s currentlyholds almost 50 per cent of the market share as compared to around 25 per cent held by Microworld. Network Associates was one of the first anti-virus providers on the market to combat the problem of viruses, through a multi-tiered approach with their Total Virus Defense (TVD) Suite. In 1998, Network Associates expanded on that front with the delivery of its Net Tools Secure suite, which addresses network security through an integrated, multi-tiered security architecture.
Network Associates has distributed more than 50 million units of its security and anti-virus software, and its customer base includes a significant number of Fortune 500 companies. The entire deal is expected to be completed in another 90 days roughly since it’s a US company taking over a UK company. Under the terms of the acquisition, holders of Dr Solomon’s Ordinary Shares will receive 0.27625 shares of Network Associates’ Common Stock for each of Dr Solomon’s Ordinary Shares. The acquisition values the entire current issued share capitalof Dr Solomon’s at approximately $642 million.
