(Reuters) – British cybersecurity company Avast will close the Jumpshot analytics business at the center of a data privacy scandal, it said on Thursday, putting hundreds of jobs at risk and deepening a slide in its shares.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Avast Software company is seen at its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, April 12, 2018. REUTERS/David W Cerny
Avast allegedly collected data on what many of its users did online and sent it to Jumpshot, which then offered to sell the information to clients, media reports said this week. Avast denied the allegations and began a review on Wednesday.
Its shares were at the bottom of Britain’s midcap index on Thursday after falling as much as 9%, taking Avast’s losses to 25% for the week so far, as it said it would take a charge of $15-$25 million in 2020 in wind-down costs.
Jumpshot, which Avast started in 2015, analyses consumers’ online habits by measuring their search, click and buy patterns across thousands of categories from…
Source Reuters Tech News
Source link
