McAfee/Microsoft denial

Network Associates, the company behind the McAfee Security brand, today took the unusual step of denying a CRN report that it's for sale, with Microsoft as the likely buyer.

Microsoft and Network Associates are "very good partners," Network Associates spokeswoman Jennifer Keavney said this afternoon, citing arrangements including the availability of McAfee products through Microsoft's MSN service. "But that's it." See additional coverage by CNet News.com

Ordinarily, companies don't comment on speculative reports about possible acquisitions. But Keavney said Network Associates "felt like there was so much reaction to the one story that we had a responsibility to clarify it." The same publication, CRN, reported in this story in May that Microsoft had "killed" its Next Generation Secure Computing Base project, drawing strong denials from Microsoft.