Symantec eyes smaller acquisitions

Symantec Chief Executive John Thompson has gambled his company’s success in part on some large acquisitions in recent years, most notably the acquisition of Veritas in 2005. But during a round-table chat with reporters Tuesday, he suggested future acquisitions would involve smaller companies.

Future deals will probably be the size of Altiris or smaller, he said. That transaction closed in April and was valued at about $970 million.

“You should expect us to do things that are more like that,” he told a small group of reporters at a round-table discussion with company executives in New York, as reported by Reuters. “That’s certainly the benchmark of a deal that we think very highly of.” He said that there are no active deals under consideration. “Having said that, we are a very acquisitive company,” he added.