On April 20, US defense contractor and the world's largest maker of guided missiles, Raytheon revealed that it has acquired information security provider Websense Inc. for about $1.9 billion. The contractor will be spinning it out into a new company.

Raytheon Co. announced the deal at the RSA Security 2015 conference at Moscone Center.

Once the deal is closed, Raytheon will own an 80% stake in the firm, and current Websense owner Vista Equity Partners will retain 20% of the company. In May 2013, Websense went private with Vista in a $907 million buyout.

Vista Equity was able to make a profit of about $1 billion in the sale to Raytheon after it held Websense for a bit less than two years.

Websense is going to bring its security expertise into the new company for enhancing Raytheon's Cyber Product division, which has its own market capitalization valuation of about $400 million. Then Vista Equity will invest $335 million in the new cyber-security company.

John McCormack, CEO of Websense has been contacted to lead the new company, which will be operating as a subsidiary of Raytheon.

In 1994, Websense started as a security reseller, NetPartners. Then it changed the name to Websense in 1999, after the success of its software that helped companies in managing employee Web use.

Websense's software is used in blocking websites. It enables companies to inspect network traffic and filter emails for security and hacking threats.

The company went public, at $18 a share, in 2000. It generated $65.7 million in its initial public offering, and in 2006, announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

When the company started off focusing on Web content, it turned itself into a content-security firm throughout the last decade.

The company launched its Triton data-security platform, in 2010, accounting for an increasing portion of its revenues.

In Q1 of 2013, the company announced profits of $2.8 million in comparison to a loss in the same quarter a year earlier. At that time, two-thirds of the revenue came from Triton sales and subscriptions.