Pavel Baudiš

Pavel Baudiš (born May 1960)[1]is a Czech software engineer, entrepreneur and the co-founder of Avast along with Eduard Kučera. He became the largest Gen Digital individual or non-institutional shareholder.[2][3][4] As of 2024, he is the 8th wealthiest person in the Czech Republic, with a net worth of more than $2.3 billion according to Forbes.[5]

Biography

Born in Prague, he graduated in Information Technology from the Prague University of Chemical Technology. He then worked as a Graphics Specialist at the Mathematical Research Institute.[6]

He entered business began with his friend Eduard Kučera at the end of the communist regime in 1989, when he founded Alwil. In the early 1990s, the company was renamed Avast Software, based on its best known product, Avast Antivirus. It soon faced intense competition, especially from Symantec, which used an aggressive pricing policy in a bid to lead the market. In response, Baudiš and Kucera took a radical defense strategy, offering its product for free. As a result, Avast ultimately emerged as the largest anti-virus firm in the world.[7]

In 2018, Avast was the largest tech IPO on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of $3.4 billion.[8]