Post M&A Pricing

Last week, Symantec announced that its pricing strategy, post its merger with Veritas, could take a year to sort out.

In a report published on Silicone.com it was noted that Symantec sold it products using a diverse range of pricing models including single user licences and site user licences. Veritas on the other hand sold its products primarily on a CPU basis.

As Mike Marn et al have noted in the book The Price Advantage, post M&A pricing is an increasingly important area when it comes to pricing.

Pricing opportunities can contribute as much as 30% of post-merger synergies and companies can be richly rewarded with post-merger pricing opportunities. After all, the customers, competitors & employees all expect expect change after a merger or an acquisition. Given that post-M&A opportunties may only last for 6-12 months, one wonders where this merger of computer security heavyweights will be able to capitalise on such an opportunity?