(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CUPERTINO, CA, November 17 / MARKET WIRE/ --

Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) today announced that
John W. Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer, will retire as CEO
at the end of the fiscal year. The board of directors has appointed Enrique
T. Salem, Symantec's chief operating officer, as president and chief
executive officer effective April 4, 2009. Following the transition,
Thompson, 59, will remain chairman of the board and Salem, 43, will join
the board of directors.

"I am proud of our team's accomplishments over the past 10 years as we've
transformed the company from a consumer software publisher to the leader in
Internet security, data protection and storage management," said Thompson.
"I've always believed planning for succession was a critical part of my
role and, for the past two years, have been working with the board on a
thoughtful succession plan. Through that process, Enrique emerged as the
right person to lead the company and I am confident in his ability to
continue to drive the success of our team."

"Over the past 10 years, John has led the effort to diversify Symantec's
customer base and has grown the company's revenue tenfold. The board
appreciates all he has done for Symantec and his leadership in driving the
succession planning process," said Robert S. Miller, lead independent
director of Symantec's board. "We are grateful that John will remain
chairman of the board and work with the team to ensure a smooth
transition."

Salem has been an integral part of the Symantec leadership team and has
worked closely with John the past few years to set the company's strategic
direction. In January 2008, Salem was appointed chief operating officer
responsible for the company's day-to-day operations, global product
development, sales and marketing. His appointment to chief operating
officer was a critical step in the succession planning process. During the
past year, he leveraged R&D investments to enhance integration across the
portfolio and established a common set of metrics to improve execution and
drive results. Salem will continue in his current role as chief operating
officer until the end of the fiscal year.

Prior to being named chief operating officer, Salem held a number of
important roles at Symantec, including senior vice president of the
security products and solutions group, group president of the consumer
business unit and group president of worldwide sales and marketing.

"Enrique is a strong leader with extensive knowledge of our business and
great relationships with our customers and employees," said Miller. "His
breadth of experience throughout his career and the depth of his knowledge
about Symantec uniquely qualify him to lead the company in its next stage
of growth."

"Symantec has a history of innovation and a solid foundation for growth. I
am confident in the team and our ability to execute for our customers,"
said Salem. "I am delighted to have this opportunity to lead a great
company through its next phase of growth and shareholder value creation."

Enrique Salem's Background

Salem has more than 20 years of experience in sales, product delivery and
operations. Before returning to Symantec in 2004, Salem was president and
chief executive officer of Brightmail, the leading anti-spam software
company that was acquired by Symantec in 2004. As senior vice president of
products and technology at Oblix Inc., he spearheaded corporate strategy
and development, leading the company's engineering, product management and
technology groups; and at Ask Jeeves Inc., he led the engineering group and
IT operations. Salem first joined Symantec in 1990 when the company
acquired Peter Norton Computing. He held a variety of positions during that
nine-year tenure including chief technology officer and vice president of
the security business unit.

Salem was named 2007 Corporate Executive of the Year by Hispanic Net as
well as 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year of Northern California by Ernst and
Young.

Conference Call

Symantec will host a conference call and webcast today to discuss this

announcement at 2 p.m. PST/ 5 p.m. EST. The live discussion can be
accessed by dialing 877-704-5378 domestic and 913-312-1268 internationally,
passcode 3549269. An audio webcast of the call will also be available at
www.symantec.com/invest. Please go to the Web site at least 15 minutes
early to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. A
replay of the call will be available via webcast at
www.symantec.com/invest.

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems
management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage
their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against
more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling
confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is
available at www.symantec.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec
Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at
http://www.symantec.com/news. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are
valid only in the United States.

Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other
countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release contains a forward-looking
statement referring to Mr. Salem's ability to lead Symantec to future
growth and shareholder value creation. This statement is subject to known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our
actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ
materially from results expressed or implied in this press release. Such
risk factors include those related to: maintaining customer and partner
relationships; the anticipated growth of certain market segments,
particularly with regard to security and storage; the competitive
environment in the software industry; changes to operating systems and
product strategy by vendors of operating systems; fluctuations in currency
exchange rates; the timing and market acceptance of new product releases
and upgrades; the successful development of new products and integration of
acquired businesses, and the degree to which these products and businesses
gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those
contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. We
assume no obligation, and do not intend, to update this forward-looking
statement as a result of future events or developments. Additional
information concerning these and other risks factors is contained in the
Risk Factor section of our Form 10-K for the year ended March 28, 2008.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Melissa Martin
Symantec Corp.
408-517-8475Melissa_martin@symantec.com
INVESTOR CONTACT:
Helyn Corcos
Symantec Corp.
408-517-8324hcorcos@symantec.com

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