By RARZACK OLAEGBE
Death is akin to obtaining a LAPO microloan. You must pay. Unlike the microloan, how you pay this particular loan does not depend on you. It relies on a number of variables. Embracing a healthy lifestyle can help you to live long. But you would pay. Throwing caution to the winds and living dangerously can shorten the years you have to welcome Mr Death. But you must pay.
On the flipside, living cautiously or dangerously does not guarantee whether you live longer or “gone too soon.” If you live in Lagos or Barcelona, it does not guarantee you would enjoy a long life. The environment is part of the equation. This can manifest in diverse ways. Those who live in a glass house would die. Those who reside in a tumbler would expire. Performers in Nollywood, Hollywood and Bollywood would take a bow. Those under the rock would die. Those inside it would die.
In 2020, McAfee made a revenue of 2,906 million dollars. It has a total assets of 5,428 billion dollars with 6,900 employees as of 2020.
Knock you cold
For instance, a reckless driver with total disregard to traffic rules and driving UDI can connive with your unseen enemies to knock you cold as you cross the expressway. A domestic staff can spray insecticide into your drink. Death by stray bullet is a possibility. Death lurks in the swimming pool. The hotel is not a safe house. Death hides in the penthouse. Anyhow, you must pay.
How you pay is not dependent on you. Except in the case of a suicide. Like the manner through which the anti-virus software entrepreneur John McAfee was discovered. It was reported that he committed suicide in his prison cell in Barcelona. McAfee named his company after himself. He released the first commercial anti-virus software. His innovation has helped to spark a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.
The market share held by the leading Windows anti-malware application vendors worldwide, as of May 2020 are ESET, Webroot Software, Malwarebytes and McAfee. Standing on its own ground, McAfee is still the best antivirus for multiple devices. It is also among the fastest. It is ahead of ESET and Sophos in a group of the ‘best antivirus software you can buy’. Kaspersky is the leader of the group. With or without the presence of its pioneer, the antivirus industry still lives on. The industry has multiple McAfee products that are leaders. They are competing for shelf space, as the company continues its acquisition spree. Among these acquisitions are Passwordbox, Skyhigh Networks, and Tunnelbear etc.
McAfee and name change saga
McAfee was founded in 1987 as McAfee Associates. It was named after its founder, John McAfee. He resigned in 1994. The company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1992. It was renamed Network Associates in December 1997 after it acquired Network General and Helix Software. It returned to its original name in 2004. It underwent restructuring. To reflect this, the company sold a part of the business. Later it was sold to Network General. It returned its name to McAfee to reflect its focus on security-related technologies.
In 2010, Intel bought McAfee for 7.68 billion dollars. In 2014, Intel changed the name to McAfee Security. On the name change, John McAfee said he was happy that his name is no longer being associated with the software. “I am now everlastingly grateful to Intel for freeing me from this terrible association with the worst software on the planet. These are not my words but the words of millions of irate users”. In 2016, the products still bore the name McAfee. In 2020, McAfee made a revenue of 2,906 million dollars. It has a total assets of 5,428 billion dollars with 6,900 employees as of 2020.
Channel stuffing
In 2006, McAfee was caught in the line of fire. The company overstated its 1998-2000 net revenue by 622 million dollars. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a suit against it. Without admitting any wrongdoing, McAfee simultaneously settled the complaint. It agreed to pay a 50 million dollar penalty and rework its accounting practices. The fine was for accounting fraud. In the industry, this practice is known as channel stuffing. It served to inflate a company’s revenue to its investors. It is a regular occurrence in the corporate world.
Courting fire
In October 2020, McAfee was arrested in Spain. He was accused of failing to file his tax returns for four years. He earned millions of dollars from consultancies, speaking engagements, crypto-currencies and book deals. It was quite confusing why he could not pay his tax. But this is not the first time McAfee has been courting fire. Remember the channel stuffing? Anyway, the US Justice Department alleged that he evaded tax liability. He did this by paying his income into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges in the names of nominees. He was also accused of concealing his assets. These assets include real estate. This has a familiar ring.
This development occurred just hours after a Spanish court agreed to extradite him to the US to face tax evasion charges. The Catalan Justice Department said prison medics tried to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful. According to them, McAfee committed suicide.
Before his death, he was said to have interest in recreational drug use. His death has generated speculation and conspiracy theories.
First commercial antivirus and drug use
Remember that McAfee wrote his first commercial antivirus in 1987. To sell his creation, he founded McAfee Associates. He was a British-American computer programmer. He was a businessman. He was a politician. He contested twice as a presidential candidate under the Libertarian Party of the USA in 2016 and 2020. He lost. He did not lose his company, though. He resigned in 1994. He sold his remaining stake in the company. He became the firm’s most vocal critic, urging consumers to uninstall its antivirus software which he characterised as bloatware.
Before his death, he was said to have interest in recreational drug use. His death has generated speculation and conspiracy theories. It was reported that he committed suicide. His wife said he was murdered. McAfee was not suicidal. But he believed he would be killed. And his death would be presented as a suicide. Coincidentally McAfee senior also committed suicide by killing “himself with a gun.” McAfee junior hung himself. But the market he pioneered is not hung. It lives on.
*Olaegbe ([email protected])
