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Foundering

McAfee Part 1: The Virus

Foundering

Bloomberg

Business, Tech News, Technology, News

4.71.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

McAfee antivirus software was ubiquitous in the 1990s, and its creator John McAfee helped define the modern cybersecurity industry. McAfee was an archetype of the Silicon Valley founder — bombastic, enigmatic and brilliant. But his life would take a dark turn. Reporter Jamie Tarabay investigated the early days of his career and found that the warning signs were there from the beginning.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:06.3

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0:27.5

Learn more at Bloomberg.com slash wealth.

0:30.6

It's torture. It tortures my mind, you know. I don't know. It's just hard to move forward. It's hard to

0:39.1

think about anything else because I just want to have him and take him and lay him to rest as he asks.

0:46.4

That's Janice Dyson McAfee. She was the last woman married to John McAfee, the antivirus software pioneer before he died.

0:55.0

When we spoke to her, his body was still laying in the morgue in Spain.

0:59.4

Even a year later, she still clearly remembered the moment she found out about his death.

1:05.0

And then I saw the news. Yeah, it just kind of broke down, you know, and I was, you know, kind of

1:11.9

inconsolable for a while. And just really in disbelief.

1:18.5

John McAfee has been found dead in a Spanish prison cell. Shortly after it was announced, he would be

1:24.2

extra-dited to the US to face charges of financial crimes.

1:28.4

The founder of the antivirus software that bears his name had just been ordered extra-dited

1:33.2

to the United States on tax evasion charges. He was 75 and a wild ride of a life it was.

1:40.6

That was June 23rd, 2021. Inside the cell of a prison, just outside Barcelona,

1:49.9

Medics tried and failed to resuscitate him. McAfee was arrested in Barcelona as he was about to

1:56.3

board a flight to Istanbul in October. In a tweet posted June 10th, McAfee told his 1 million

2:02.5

Twitter followers, quote, there is much sorrow in prison disguised as hostility.

2:08.2

Jana said that McAfee was allowed to make three eight-minute phone calls a day from prison.

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