Symantec 1999 Annual Report Download - page 4

reflect the potential of our company. This has strengthened our resolve to work even harder to ensure
that our results in the coming year meet or exceed your expectations. Our goals, simply stated, are to
grow equal to or faster than the peer companies in our industr y and to constantly improve the value of our
stockholders’ investment. To accomplish these objectives, our team has three broad initiatives
underway: Internet-enabling not just our solutions, but our very mindset; walking longer and farther in the
shoes of our customers; and shifting our resources to meet the ever-growing and more complex needs of
our enterprise user community.
SERVING A CONNECTED WORLD
No one doubts any longer that the Internet has changed not only our industry but also our entire world—the
world of commerce, certainly, but also the world of everyday interaction. “What would we do without email?” is
a question asked and answered by more and more of us each day. Whether it is empowering a team of
knowledge workers who need instant communication for their jobs, or supporting a parent who has simply
gotten used to “talking” with their child every few days at college, the Internet is redefining our connections to
what is important to us. This includes, of course, our access to the widest variety of resources imaginable, right
from our desktop, laptop, or mobile device. xWhat role does Symantec play in this new, connected
world? Put simply, we want to help our customers flourish in this ever more complex environment—by keeping
their network interactions safe and secure and their computing processes simple. This means protecting our
customers, as indeed we have always done, from new and unknown threats to their computing environment—
now, however, by using the expansive power of the Internet. At the same time, we want to help reduce the cost
of maintaining and supporting the growing number of devices that operate in today’s truly connected world.
xOne of the ways we expect to accomplish this is by refocusing our attention on our traditional core
competencies of building security and connectivity-related solutions for individual consumers. To that end, in June
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SYMANTEC CORPORATION
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SYMANTEC CORPORATION
TO OUR STOCKHOLDERS,
I am pleased to be able to speak with you for the first time as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
of Symantec. I would like at the outset to thank the many of you—employees, stockholders, and customers—who
have so graciously and warmly welcomed me to our Company. I am indebted to you for that support, and
I hope in this letter I may begin to repay your trust by sharing with you my goals and expectations for moving our
Company forward. xMany people have asked me why I chose to come to Symantec when I was in the
prime of a long and successful career with IBM. It is indeed a reasonable question, and I offer the answer as a
testament as much to our Company’s future as to my own personal and professional aspirations. xWhat I
saw in Symantec was a company with extremely strong product leadership in its chosen markets, a remarkably
talented team of professionals, and a loyal, ravenous customer base. Here was an opportunity to take on the
responsibility of turning a very good company into a great company, essentially by rethinking business
strategies to meet the new and ever-changing demands of a connected world. What I’ve discovered since
I arrived—especially with regards to the energy of our people and the quality of their work—has served only to
reaffirm my decision to join this terrific enterprise. While we have already accomplished much in the short time
that I’ve been here, there is of course much more still to do. Before I discuss our agenda for the future,
however, let me recap our results of the past twelve months. xIn fiscal 1999, revenues were $592.3
million, a 11% increase over fiscal year 1998. Net income was $50.2 million, a 41% decrease from the
prior year. This decrease was due largely to the cost of four acquisitions, in which related in-process R&D
costs totaled $27.5 million. Net income per share for the year was $0.86, compared with $1.42 in fiscal year
1998 xRevenues from our international operations were quite strong, totaling $239 million, a
21% increase over the prior fiscal year, and accounting for 40% of our total revenues. xAlthough
the Company enjoyed modest revenue growth in fiscal 1999, we believe these gains don’t sufficiently
won’t mean what it did before—a mainframe, mini-computer, or a PC. In a connected world, computers seamlessly communicate with a vast array of wireless devices—all linked, all connected, often invisibly. The