AVG Technologies, the world’s leading provider of free Internet security solutions, today announced another record year of record revenue, profit and customer growth. As of December, 2009, AVG’s user base surpassed the 110 million user milestone. In the wake of these strong results, AVG has officially named current CEO, J.R. Smith, whose leadership has been responsible for driving the last three years of strong performance and growth, to the permanent position in leading the company to its next phase of growth as it pursues a public offering.
“The board initially believed that the market would place a higher value on a CEO who had experience taking companies through public offerings, and, as such, we undertook the task of a search for that person and interviewed hundreds of candidates for the role,” said Dale Fuller, Chairman of the AVG Board of Directors. “After AVG’s banner results again in 2009, it became overwhelmingly clear that J.R.’s vision, drive for success and ability to execute are far more valuable to the company, and we need his leadership to take us to the next step and beyond.”
Under Smith’s leadership over the last three years, AVG grew revenues on average 75 percent year over year and continued to dominate the security sector as the number-one all time most downloaded anti-virus software on CNET’s Download.com website. AVG was first offered on CNET in 2005, and last year averaged more than 1.5 million downloads per week and tallied a total of 251 million downloads. It now counts its active user base at more than 110 million worldwide.
Fuller added, “J.R. continues to advance our business in compelling ways; his vision, drive for success and ability to execute are critical to the company as it moves into its next phases of growth, and we are delighted that he has agreed to take us there.”
“The Internet security space today is a dynamic marketplace with exponential opportunity, and I am excited to take AVG to the next levels,” said J.R. Smith, CEO of AVG Technologies. “2010 is going to be an exciting year for us and I am proud to continue to lead AVG into new territory that helps protect the world online, one person at a time.”
