Intel rumoured to be looking for McAfee buyer

Intel is rumoured to be investigating a potential sell-off of its six-year-old security arm formerly known as McAfee, and the notorious John McAfee is unsurprised.

The Financial Times was the first to report on rumours that Intel is looking for a buyer for Intel Security. In 2010 Intel Security was catapulted from a relatively small section of the company into a major customer-facing division when Intel acquired security firm McAfee, best known for McAfee Antivirus, for $7.7 billion - a deal which benefited notorious playboy, drug enthusiast, and murder suspect John McAfee not a jot, as he had long since quit the company and sold his stakes in it.

While Intel has chosen to distance itself from the McAfee name - unsurprising, perhaps, given McAfee's ongoing infamy with projects including anti-NSA technology and a presidential bid - the company has given little hint that it is planning to exit the security products market. McAfee, though, is unsurprised: 'I never understood why a chip manufacturer would have purchased a suite of software security products in the first place,' he told Business Insider on the back of the rumours. 'The product development and maintenance processes are radically different, as are the marketing and sales processes. And there is virtually no customer overlap. It's like a car manufacturer suddenly deciding to get into the skateboard business. It never made sense to me.'

Intel has not commented on the rumour, but is facing a share price which has fallen seven per cent since the start of the year.