Symantec is planning on selling its data storage business to The Carlyle Group, which specialises in private equity and asset management, according to an anonymous source.
The deal, which is expected to be announced on Tuesday, will bring to an end a saga that began with the acquisition of Veritas more than a decade ago, in a move that has not proved lucrative for the security company.
A private source revealed details to the newswire Reuters, with details being leaked ahead of Symantec’s quarterly earnings. Bloomberg has previously reported the deal would be worth between $7bn and $8bn.
Carlyle has previously told CBR it does not comment on market speculation, whilst Symantec has yet to respond to requests for comment.
Should the deal go ahead it will leave Symantec focused on enterprise and consumer security software with annual revenues of $4.2bn as of last year.
It will also see the security company join the ranks of HP and eBay, the former of which is splitting itself in two, with one division selling commercial IT to businesses whilst the other sells printers and PCs to consumers.
Last month PayPal was severed from eBay, with the payments firm now worth more than its auctioneer parent at $51bn.
