McAfee Inc., the world’s second-largest security software maker, agreed to pay $50 million to settle charges that it overstated revenue and earnings by hundreds of millions of dollars from 1998 through 2000, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.
The SEC said that during that period McAfee inflated its cumulative net revenue by $622 million and, for 1998 alone, the company overstated revenue by $562 million -- a misstatement of 131 percent.
The company settled with the SEC without admitting or denying the regulator’s allegations, the SEC said. The settlement is subject to court approval.
The company, which is based in Santa Clara, California, said in late September that it had reserved $50 million for a potential settlement involving the SEC’s formal investigation of the company’s results in the year 2000 and prior periods.
McAfee Chairman and Chief Executive George Samenuk said in a statement that the company and the board will continue creating a corporate culture of ethics and compliance.
“We are pleased to be able to reach this settlement and will take this opportunity to reinforce and further institutionalize the strong message of putting Ethics First, which I have made the hallmark of McAfee since joining in January 2001,” he said.