John McAfee

John McAfee

John David McAfee (born September 18, 1945) is an English-American computer programmer and businessman. He founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company. His personal and business interests include smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, and herbal antibiotics. He unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States in 2016 and 2020. On October 6, 2020 McAfee was arrested in Spain over tax evasion charges.

About John McAfee in brief

Summary John McAfeeJohn David McAfee (born September 18, 1945) is an English-American computer programmer and businessman. He founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company. McAfee’s wealth peaked in 2007 at USD 100 million, before his investments plummeted in the financial crisis of 2007–2008. He unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States in 2016 and 2020. On October 6, 2020 McAfee was arrested in Spain over tax evasion charges. The charges were announced shortly after the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that it had brought civil charges against McAfee and that he could face 30 years in prison if convicted. His personal and business interests include smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, and herbal antibiotics. In June 2013, McAfee uploaded a video titled How to Uninstall Antivirus onto his YouTube channel. The video has garnered over 9 million views and McAfee told Reuters that he made the video to ridicule the media. In February 2010, he started the company QuorumEx, headquartered in Belize, which aimed to produce herbal antibiotics that disrupt bacteria that disrupt quorum sensing in bacteria. The company was purchased by Intel in 2011 and spun back out in 2017 with TPG Capital owning a majority stake, though the software has always borne the McAfee brand name. In August 2010, Intel bought McAfee, maintaining the separate branding, until January 2014, when it announced that McAfee-related products will be marketed as Intel Security.

He was born in Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom on a U.S. Army base to an American father, who was stationed there, and a British mother. McAfee has said he feels as much British as he is American. In 2000, he invested in and joined the board of directors of Zone Labs, makers of firewall software, prior to its acquisition by Check Point Software in 2003. In 2009, he was interviewed for the CNBC special \”The Decade, in which it was reported that he had invested andor built many mansions when the global recession hit in USA that went unsold in 2007. He also uses quorumEx to produce plants for possible medicinal uses on his land on Belize. He has said that he feels that he is as much American as he was British when he was a child. He is also a political activist, and has been involved in leadership positions in the companies Everykey, MGT Capital Investments and Luxcore, among others. In 2008, he received an honorary Sc. D. degree in mathematics from Roanoke College, which subsequently awarded him an honorary degree in 2008. In 1978, he joined Computer Sciences Corporation as a software consultant. He worked for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton from 1980–1982. He received a copy of the Brain computer virus, and began developing software to combat viruses. In the 1980s, while employed by Lockheed, he began developing his own anti-virus software.