McAfee's stock has dropped since then, but not because of its divestiture. In general, a company's stock rarely drops when it does a spinoff, but often drops when it announces a merger, or when it runs into trouble trying to merge management, product lines and technology. Small companies agile I vote for the spinoff strategy. This is a time for entrepreneurs, despite the recent dotcom stock declines. The market will come back.
Small companies are more agile in turbulent times.
As the market for small tech stocks return, a spinoff is a way to keep from losing great executives to outside startups. Large corporations are recognizing the value of aggressive startups by investing in them. Now that is a great trend. In fact, a large company investment in a small one is an admission that there are shortcomings to the large company approach to innovation. And that is fine.