Chipzilla and the EU seem to have come to an arrangement over Intel's purchase of the security outfit McAfee.
The European Commission has formally approved Intel's $7.68 billion acquisition of security-software provider McAfee but set conditions on the deal. The Commission had been concerned that the deal would end up excluding competing security software from operating with Intel processors, but, as part of the conditions for merger approval, Intel agreed to make sure its products would continue to work with rival software.
"The commitments submitted by Intel strike the right balance, as they allow preserving both competition and the beneficial effects of the merger," Joaquín Almunia, the Commission's vice president in charge of competition policy, said. "These changes will ensure that vigorous competition is maintained and that consumers get the best result in terms of price, choice and quality of the IT security products."
Last August, Intel agreed to pay $48 a share for McAfee. At the time, the company said the transaction could close as early as the end of 2010. Many thought that Intel would stick McAfee software into its chips but that now looks like that will not be the case.
The only question is now why Intel bought the outfit at all.
But sets conditions
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Nick Farell
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