Yup, no doubt about it that the antivirus brand of McAfee is about to be tainted blood red.
And it has nothing even to do with the billion dollar company’s performance or any issues with its IT security solutions; which by the way, have been stellar and formidable to say the least.
Today, McAfee is owned by Intel Corp, who paid USD$7.6 billion in 2010 – the largest IT acquisition ever at that time, to develop protection solutions in addressing the cybersecurity threat in this new pervasive computing world of Internet-ready devices, smart mobile phones, wireless devices, TVs, automobiles, medical, travel, retail and kiosk machines.
Unfortunately for McAfee, it is the founder, John McAfee, upon which the company’s name is based upon, that is finally causing this classic case of association-by-name to rear its ugly head. This is also a reason why companies should never be named after its founders or owners!
Since the bizarre news of John McAfee evading Belize police by burying himself in the sand with a cardboard box over his head (so he could breathe) when police arrived at his home to investigate the gunshot murder of his neighbour, the media has been crawling with sensational reports of the fugitive, disgraced founder of the anti-virus software maker.
(Note: At time of writing this article, police have arrested two of John McAfee’s bodyguards in relation to the murder.)
From John McAfee’s accidental genius in founding McAfee, to reputation-risk reasons for his exile and alienation from the company; his hippy trail lifestyle of yoga, sex, polygamous lifestyle; to innuendos of dealings involving firearms, steroid drug developments, hosting national lesbian conventions and whacko air sports – the man’s range of unholy surprises dwarf many personal cases involving other IT founders and owners.
Also for those unfamiliar with Belize, John unwittingly (or purposely?) made the Caribbean island sound like a lawless Mexican state with his comment that “… the list of people who have died while in the custody of Belizean police would fill a phone book from an average American town.”
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| Beautiful Belize: divers’ paradise |
In the local market, McAfee is a strong IT security brand name which solutions are sought after largely by corporations in the financial services and commercial sector. The company, run by Mr. Alagesan Alagappan, Regional Director, as expected remains nonchalant with BAU in the wake of this scandal.
Meanwhile, McAfee global representatives are doing the usual PR thing of “…refraining from commenting on former employees,” and (yet) emphasising that “…John McAfee retired from McAfee in 1994, and has not had any affiliation with the company since then.”
IT BYTES BACK! says: Under what circumstance would any (if any) scandalous antics by the prim-and-proper Datuk Jimmy Choo affect the business of the luxury brand bearing his name? Hypothetically, it would be the same for John McAfee and McAfee the company. It would take much more for McAfee to bleed corporate-wise, but the company will suffer from unnecessary attention for the wrong reasons.
