U.S.-based cybersecurity giant Malwarebytes today launched ThreatDown, a new brand that encompasses its business software portfolio and B2B-focused unit, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.
Earlier this year, Malwarebytes let go of approximately 100 employees as part of a wider plan to separate the company into two separate business units, Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski, who founded the company in 2008, told TechCrunch at the time.
Kleczynski has today made this split official with the launch of ThreatDown, formerly Malwarebytes for Business. The newly rebranded business unit will focus on enterprise-facing software, including managed and endpoint detection, while Malwarebytes will continue focusing on consumer tools, identity protection and its VPN, Kleczynski told TechCrunch ahead of the split.
Both the consumer and corporate-focused business unit will operate under the Malwarebytes executive team and Kleczynski’s leadership as CEO, he said.
“The company has evolved from its remediation roots, and this new brand and product portfolio reflects that evolution alongside the changing threat landscape,” Kleczynski told TechCrunch. “The launch of ThreatDown formalizes the business unit focused on serving IT-constrained organizations and channel partners.”
“Operationally, this distinction allows employees to focus exclusively on the specific security challenges they’re solving for each customer segment,” he added.
Kleczynski said the company does not plan to make any further layoffs as a result of the formalization of the split but noted that the move “shifted our need for some high-level roles,” including chief technology officer. (A former Malwarebytes employee previously told TechCrunch that the company laid off its chief technology officer, chief product officer and chief information officer.)
Kleczynski said that the company has no plans to hire new executive-level roles at this time. “We have senior leaders in place to lead both our internal and external technology teams,” he said. “I’ve also stepped in to lead the product organization as I strongly believe the company needs to be product-led.”
As he told TechCrunch back in August, Kleczynski reiterated that Malwarebytes is not actively pursuing a sale of any part of its business or further funding following its $100 million investment last year from Vector Capital, a private equity firm that invests in established technology businesses.
Kleczynski said that Malwarebytes remains “healthy and profitable.” The company has about 20,000 business customers.
“We’re pleased with our partnership with Vector and not proactively searching for additional funding,” Kleczynski said. “Right now, I’m focused on getting the new brand name into the market and continuing to build the right technology and services to serve resource-constrained organizations.”