Symantec Enterprise Sales Head Exits In Wake Of Broadcom Deal

Marc Andrews says on LinkedIn that he left Symantec in September after three years as SVP of enterprise worldwide sales. The move came a month after the division’s $10.7 billion sale to Broadcom was announced.

Symantec Enterprise global sales leader Marc Andrews left the company following news of the division’s $10.7 billion sale to Broadcom, according to his LinkedIn page.

Andrews said on his LinkedIn page that he left Symantec in September and is now a principal at A.K.M. Consulting, though Symantec listed Andrews as a corporate executive as recently as Saturday. The Broadcom-Symantec Enterprise deal closed Monday, and Andrews doesn’t currently appear on the list of executives for either Broadcom or the remaining $2.41 billion NortonLifeLock consumer business.

Neither Andrews nor Broadcom immediately responded to requests for comment, while NortonLifeLock directed CRN’s inquiry to Broadcom. NortonLifeLock is now operating as an independent, publicly-traded company focused on consumer cybersecurity and identity protection.

[Related: Done Deal: $10.7 Billion Broadcom-Symantec Enterprise Acquisition Closes]

Andrews came over to Mountain View, Calif.-based Symantec in August 2016 when the company’s $4.65 billion acquisition of Blue Coat Systems closed, and since then had spearheaded global sales efforts for the $2.5 billion Symantec Enterprise practice. As senior vice president of enterprise worldwide sales, he was responsible for driving engagement with Symantec’s largest customers, transactions and partners.

Following the November 2018 departure of Symantec President and COO Michael Fey, the company said that Andrews would receive an expanded set of responsibilities and report directly to then-CEO Greg Clark. Broadcom’s stock is up $6.25 (2.05 percent) to $311.25 per share in trading midday Tuesday, while NortonLifeLock’s stock is up $0.10 (0.44 percent) to $23.95 per share.

Prior to joining Symantec in 2016, Andrews spent five years as senior vice president of worldwide field operations at web security player Blue Coat Systems. Before that, Andrews spent 2.5 years as president of IT software provider Micro Focus International, where he was responsible for sales, services, marketing, and product management teams.

Andrews also had a brief stint president of international operations at Saba Software, and served as chief operating office at enterprise software company NetIQ from 2003 until the company was acquired in 2006 by Attachmate.

Andrews’ departure from Symantec occurred as the company was disclosing plans to cut nearly 240 jobs across four sites in California and Oregon as part of a $100 million restructuring effort. Those layoffs affected people in positions ranging from sales operations and sales support to software engineering and project management, according to letters from Symantec to state and local officials.

Symantec had in August unveiled a $100 million restructuring program (its second in two years) that includes a 7 percent reduction in head count as well as the closure of certain sites. The job reductions and site closures are expected to be mostly done by the company's fiscal third quarter, which ends Dec. 31.

The company had 12,000 employees as of August and expected to get down to 10,000 employees for both its enterprise and consumer segments as part of the improvement plan, CFO Vincent Pilette said in August. The company expected to have 2,500 employees as part of NortonLifeLock after the sale of its enterprise security business to Broadcom closed, Pilette said in August.

Broadcom, meanwhile, said in August that it plans to achieve $1 billion of cost synergies in the year following the close of the Symantec deal through cuts to sales, marketing, and general and administrative functions. Broadcom said its looking to increase the EBITDA for Symantec's enterprise security business from $350 million as of August to $1.3 billion post-synergies on a pro forma basis.

The company said it plans to enhance its investment around the Symantec enterprise security endpoint, web and data loss protection products, while scaling down investment in other areas where the return may not be as profitable.

Following the close, Broadcom said it plans to focus on selling Symantec to Global 2000 organizations. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan told investors in August that business with smaller enterprises and SMBs tends to be less sticky and “bright shiny objects” tend to be a major draw.