Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Symantec to Acquire Brightmail for $370 Million

Symantec agreed to acquire San Francisco-based Brightmail, a developer of anti-spam technology, for approximately $370 million. Brightmail's multi-layered anti-spam combines proactive heuristic and reputation-based blocking techniques for deployment by enterprises, service providers, and wireless carriers.



Symantec made a strategic investment in Brightmail in July 2000 and currently holds an approximately 11 percent equity stake in the company. http://www.symantec.comhttp://www.brightmail.com

  • As of March 2004, Brightmail was providing anti-spam protection for more than 300 million end users. In February of 2004, Brightmail processed 91 billion email messages, of which 62% were spam.


  • Brightmail was founded in 1998 and currently employs more than 160 people.


  • In March 2004, Brightmail filed papers with the SEC for a proposed initial public offering (IPO).