Following investor briefings this week in New York and the recent acquisition announcement of UK based Privax Ltd., makers of the popular ‘HMA! Pro VPN’, it has been a busy time at AVG.

This is the second time that the AVG executive team has had the privilege of ringing the opening bell, doing so in 2012 when it first listed on the exchange. Now with 200 million active users, and over half of them on mobile devices, AVG is once again celebrating.

The NYSE was founded in 1817 and the original signal to open and close the market was a gavel, but during the late 1800’s this changed to a gong.  And then in 1903 the gong was switched to the bell format seen today.

Famous NYSE bell ringers have included Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan and even fictional characters such as Micky Mouse and Darth Vader.

Standing on the NYSE podium and pushing the button that signals the bells to ring is seen by many as a great honor and a lifetime achievement.  We couldn’t be more proud of our executive team at AVG for their hard work and tireless dedication for this well deserved recognition.