Dive Brief:

• Symantec announced Thursday that its president and CEO Michael Brown is stepping down, though the company did not provide a reason.

• A number of Symantec executives have left the security vendor over the past several months.

• The company also lowered its revenue guidance for the upcoming quarter to $873 million, down from an expected range of $885 million to $915 million.

Dive Insight:

Ajei Gopal, former senior vice president and general manager at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has stepped in as interim president and chief operating officer at Symantec.

Symantec, which was born and thrived under a much different cybersecurity landscape than today's tenuous security climate, has been struggling over the last few years. In August 2015, Symantec sold Veritas, its data storage business, to a group led by Carlyle Group LP for $8 billion. Symantec bought Veritas for $13.5 billion in 2005.

In recent months, Symantec lost several other key executives, and CRN sources have indicated that layoffs are already underway at the company. It’s unclear whether the company will be able to turn itself around and become competitive in the market once again. With the recent leadership changes, Symantec emphasized its move to focus exclusively on cybersecurity.