You would imagine that when you pay for McAfee Antivirus, some of the money goes to John McAfee, the genius programmer who created the software. That is completely not the case. John McAfee’s Net Worth and history make for a fascinating and stormy tale.
When ranking the most scandalous figures of the twenty-first century, McAfee is unquestionably one of the top twenty. Once rich at over a hundred million, John is now content with a modest lifestyle and a net worth of only four million. How John McAfee’s net worth has dropped? To satisfy our curiosity, we researched the background of this intriguing individual.
To Whom John McAfee?
John McAfee, a British immigrant who settled in the United States, was a successful entrepreneur, politician, and computer programmer who co-founded McAfee Associates.
Born on September 18th, 1945, in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England (not far from the Forest of Dean), he has lived there his whole life. His father, Don McAfee, was an American soldier, and his mother, Joan, was a Briton. He grew up in the town of Salem, Virginia, in the United States.
In 1967, he received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Roanoke College in Virginia, and in 2008, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the same institution.
Also read: Ryan Upchurch Net Worth 2022: Is He Still Married or Dating Someone Right Now?
After finishing his undergraduate degree, McAfee enrolled in Northeast Louisiana State College with the intention of pursuing a doctorate in mathematics; however, he was eventually expelled.
Personal Life: John McAfee
In total, he wed three times. His first wife was his high school sweetheart, Circa, and together they had a daughter. Years later, he tied the knot with Judy, a former flight attendant for American Airlines. And his third wife is Janice Dyson, a former sex worker. They uprooted Oregon’s Portland in 2013.
In January of 2020, he discussed his family on Twitter, saying that he is the father of 47 children, grandfather to 61, and great-grandfather to 19.
By 2015, he was a resident of Lexington, Tennessee. In December of 2018, he made the claim on Twitter, writing, “47 genetic children.”
His passing was recorded as having occurred on June 23, 2021, in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Catalonia, Spain. He had lived to the ripe old age of 75 when he passed.
Career: John McAfee
John McAfee was a programmer on the Apollo program at NASA’s Institute for Space Studies in New York City from 1968 to 1970. After that, he became an operating system architect for Xerox and a software designer for Univac.
In 1978, he began his career as a software consultant at Computer Sciences Corporation. A consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, he worked there from 1980 till 1982.
In 1986, while still at Lockheed, he started working on an antivirus program that could automatically detect and eradicate computer viruses. Finally, in 1987, he founded McAfee Associates Inc. to commercialize the application he had named VirusScan.
Also read: Olivia Rodrigo Net Worth: Multi-Talented Actress! Early Life, Career, Car Worth Info!
Following his departure from McAfee Associates, he founded a number of companies, such as Future Tense Central, QuorumEx, and Tribal Voice (makers of the PowWow chat software). Other companies where he served as an executive include Everykey, MGT Capital Investments, and Luxcore.
In October of the year 2020, he was detained in Spain on allegations of tax evasion in the United States. On the basis of alleged tax filing violations spanning four years, federal prosecutors in the United States have filed criminal and civil charges against McAfee.
John McAfee’s Net Worth
According to celebritynetworth, To put John McAfee’s net worth in perspective, consider that he was a successful American IT entrepreneur who left behind $4 million. Starting off, he rose to fame and fortune as the head of the anti-virus software company McAfee, which he co-founded.
Once worth more than $100 million, John McAfee had a significant portion of his fortune evaporate due to poor financial decisions and the worldwide recession of 2008.
Also read: Duff McKagan Net Worth for 2022: How He Spends His Hard-earned Cash
In later life, John was involved in a number of court disputes. At the age of 75, he reportedly committed suicide on June 23, 2021.
Where Did All the Funds Go?
As far as we can tell, John’s money made it all the way to Belize. He probably had a lot of artwork on display in his house, which was a good investment considering he spent so much of his wealth on it. In 2014, CNN reported that he was residing in Canada after having lost everything. He escaped from Belize but was eventually caught in Guatemala.
He may have entered the nation illegally seeking refuge but was turned down. As there was no international arrest warrant for him at the time of his 2012 arrest, Guatemalan officials had no idea where to send him. Extradition attempts from Belize to either Guatemala or Miami would have been unsuccessful.
However, they were able to successfully attack his “forest compound” and seize his valuables. Reports have claimed that it was a meth lab or at least was thought to be one. We have no way of confirming them. McAfee alleges that all of his possessions were auctioned off, but his art collection vanished. As if it weren’t strange enough, his Belizean home was destroyed by fire due to “unknown causes” soon after the attack.
Last Words
There’s not much else we can say at this moment. To learn the full tale of how John McAfee became so wealthy, we’ll have to put the question to John himself. John McAfee’s genius helped him become wealthy more than once. He went off the deep end after running into trouble with law enforcement and international drug gangs.
If we were to write a Net Worth essay about anyone, it would be John since he is the most unusual and fascinating subject we have ever had. This is easily the most out-of-the-ordinary biography we’ve ever written. Leave a comment below telling us what you think really happened.
