McAfee acquired certain TunnelBear assets and liabilities on February 26, 2018, according to McAfee’s SEC filing. TunnelBear announced the news on March 8. The filing reported a $25 million purchase price, plus additional deferred cash tied to continuing service by certain employees; it did not describe a purchase of all TunnelBear shares.
When did McAfee acquire TunnelBear?
The transaction date and announcement date are different. McAfee’s 2020 Form 10-K, published in 2021, records February 26, 2018 as the date McAfee acquired certain TunnelBear assets and liabilities. TunnelBear made the public announcement on March 8, 2018.
The SEC filing describes the transaction as a business combination intended to integrate TunnelBear’s consumer VPN technology into McAfee’s product platform. It does not say McAfee bought all of TunnelBear’s shares. McAfee’s 2020 Form 10-K provides the transaction details; TunnelBear’s March 8, 2018 announcement gives the public announcement date.
How much did McAfee pay?
McAfee reported a $25 million purchase price for the acquired assets and liabilities in its 2020 Form 10-K, published in 2021. The filing also describes an additional amount recognized as deferred cash, conditional on certain key employees providing required continuing service. The $25 million figure is the reported purchase price, not a total that includes an independently specified amount for that deferred cash.
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What did TunnelBear say would change?
In its March 2018 announcement, TunnelBear said it would operate as a separate team within McAfee, keep its team together, remain based in Toronto, and continue developing its products. Those were commitments made at the time of the acquisition, not confirmation of TunnelBear’s present-day operating structure.
TunnelBear also acknowledged the parent company’s U.S. base, saying the change brought “increased privacy pressure and expectations.” In October 2018, its transparency report said TunnelBear was transitioning from TunnelBear Inc. to TunnelBear LLC, was then part of a U.S.-based security company, and still had offices in Toronto. Those statements describe the company’s circumstances at the time; they do not, by themselves, establish what authorities could access or the company’s current legal structure. TunnelBear’s transparency report explains its historical disclosures and data-request process.
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What did the deal mean for TunnelBear’s security audits?
TunnelBear and McAfee said they were committed to annual security audits and publishing the results. TunnelBear had announced a public security audit in 2017, and later published information about audits in 2018 and 2019. These are historical disclosures, not evidence of the service’s current audit schedule or a guarantee of present-day security.
In a 2020 post about the 2019 audit, TunnelBear said Cure53 spent 37 days on the work and identified 2 critical, 4 high, 1 medium, 2 low, and 3 informational issues. TunnelBear said it fixed the issues promptly. These duration and findings are TunnelBear’s account of that particular audit, not an independent assessment of TunnelBear today. TunnelBear’s 2020 post on the 2019 audit describes the reported findings and remediation.
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Was TunnelBear technology integrated into McAfee products?
Contemporaneous TechCrunch reporting said McAfee planned to integrate TunnelBear technology into Safe Connect. The SEC filing states the broader objective of integrating TunnelBear’s consumer VPN technology into McAfee’s product platform, but does not specify Safe Connect. The Safe Connect detail should therefore be treated as reported by TechCrunch, rather than as a term stated in the SEC filing or TunnelBear’s acquisition announcement. TechCrunch’s March 2018 report covered the planned integration.
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What the acquisition record does—and does not—establish
- Established: McAfee’s SEC filing records an asset-and-liability acquisition on February 26, 2018, and a reported $25 million purchase price with additional deferred cash subject to employee service.
- Established as historical company statements: TunnelBear promised to continue as a separate team and keep developing its products, and it described privacy expectations associated with its U.S.-based parent.
- Not established by these records: TunnelBear’s current ownership, legal entity, service status, or audit cadence. The acquisition-era announcements and historical audit posts should not be read as current status updates.
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