John Mcafee Net Worth, Biography & Career (Final Net Worth Before Death)

A technology entrepreneur, John McAfee had an estimated net worth of $4 million when he passed away. He became well-known and wealthy as the creator and CEO of McAfee, an antivirus software company. 

McAfee once had a net worth of more than $100 million, though he lost a significant portion of it due to poor investment choices and the 2008 financial crisis.

Later in life, John was involved in a number of legal disputes. At 75 years old, he reportedly committed suicide on June 23, 2021.

Full NameJohn McAfee
ProfessionProgrammer, Businessperson
Date of BirthSep 18, 1945
DeathJun 23, 2021
Age75 Years
GenderMale
NationalityAmerican
John McAfee Net Worth$4 Million (Last Updated 2022)

John McAfee Early Years

The American software entrepreneur was born on a United States Army base in Cinderford, England, on September 18, 1945. He was the son of an American soldier stationed on the base, and his mother was British. 

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Mcafee grew up in Salem, Virginia. In an interview, he stated he felt just as American as he did British. While McAfee was fifteen years old, his abusive, and alcoholic father shot himself with a gun. 

In 1967, he graduated from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, majoring in mathematics. In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of science (Sc.D.) by the school.

John McAfee Career 

McAfee worked at the Institute for Space Studies of NASA in New York City from 1968 to 1970 after he graduated from college. During that time, he programmed the program. Following his retirement from NASA, he worked for Univac as a software designer, then became an operating system architect at Xerox. Then McAfee became a software consultant for Computer Sciences Corporation in 1978. He then worked for Booz Allen Hamilton for two years between 1980 and 1982.

McAfee developed virus-fighting software while he was working for Lockheed in the 1980s. A copy of the Brain computer virus inspired him to work on anti-virus software. A year after leaving his job, he founded McAfee Associates, a company that specializes in anti-virus software. 

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The company was incorporated in Delaware a few years later, in 1992. After two more years at the company, he resigned in 1994. His stake in McAfee associates was sold for $100 million two years after McAfee Associates went public.

To form Network Associates, McAfee Associates combined with Network General in 1997. The company was renamed McAfee, Inc. seven years later.  Intel purchased the company in August 2010. Its own branding was maintained until January 2014, when Intel Security began marketing McAfee products under the brand name Intel Security. Intel spun off McAfee, Inc. from its parent company in 2017 under a joint venture with TPG Capital, and changed its name to McAfee, LLC.

McAfee lost millions after he made poor investments, such as betting heavily on Lehman Brothers’ Bonds. A lot of the assets he owned had to be sold for pennies on the dollar. In one case, McAfee sold in Colorado a $25 million estate for just $5.7 million. Furthermore, he sold a ranch in New Mexico, a mansion in Hawaii, and a Cessna private jet.

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John McAfee Personal Life 

McAfee was approached by a sex worker in South Beach, Miami, after his return to the U.S. in December 2012. Dyson and McAfee started dating and ended up getting married in 2013.