Why has Intel bought McAfee?
Intel stunned markets yesterday with the announcement of a massive deal to buy McAfee. Simon Brew looks at some of the reasons why it may have done it.

Final thoughts
Of course, the likely reason that Intel is snapping up McAfee is a combination of most of the factors discussed, and we certainly wouldn't discount the idea of clearing cash off the bottom of a spreadsheet.
What's interesting, though, is that it chose to spend on such a big software company, which is what's taken the market particularly by surprise.
The reaction from investors hasn't been universally upbeat by any measure, and you suspect that Intel's shareholders will be pressing for a lot more information than has been released thus far.
But it's still a fascinating and potentially game-changing move. And if it works, expect the asking price of an assortment of other security software specialists to start heading northwards
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