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by tialaramex 3271 days ago
Hmm. Whilst sale of this business is certainly a possibility, one thing to keep in mind is that the anonymous sources could have been confused by activity that isn't actually a sale at all.

Symantec's current deal with Mozilla/ Google implies that they need a third party to actually do most of the technical work while they build new capabilities not tainted by previous problems. So that means Symantec executives having discussions with other CAs that could easily _look_ like they're thinking of selling the business even if they aren't, they'd be talking about sales volumes, sharing financial data, which operational people could be transferred and who needs to stay where they are... all stuff that _looks_ like a sale but would be necessary for Symantec to obey the plan they've shown Google.

Also sale of the CA business with the current shadow over it would be problematic, the major trust stores have reacted to the StartCom/ WoSign fiasco by instituting more rules about transfer, which came up for Google recently because they bought a CA. If an existing CA buys the Symantec (Verisign/ Thawte/ GlobalSign branding) business, they also buy Symantec's problems with the trust stores. If a _new_ CA buys the business there will be arguments from a lot of quarters that they're unqualified and forget Symantec's problems the whole thing needs to go away immediately. It's like buying a burning tyre fire, where's the upside ?
2 comments
FungalRaincloud 3271 days ago
I'm inclined to agree just from my own reading of this. I just don't see how sale could do anything but harm trust in the brands further, which makes sale only appealing to those who either don't care about trust, or have enough trust on their side to think they can rebuild it. Both of those groups are not going to want to pay much. Why sell a division of your company for peanuts?
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jbergstroem 3271 days ago
> It's like buying a burning tyre fire, where's the upside ?

I see it as buying the customer stock with the opportunity of a "fresh start". Rebrand, ensure the that the new organization follows compliance.

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