Rumors of Red Hat being bought

[Dragonbite]

Red Hat takeover talk heats up ahead of press conference (http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/opinion/blogpost/8180415/)
Rumors swirled – again – on Monday that the world’s top Linux open source developer and service provider was in the cross hairs of another firm. This time, the interested buyer was said to be SAP.

Adding fuel to the talk, Raleigh-based Red Hat said its management team will host an online press conference on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Red Hat: Will SAP Acquire Linux Leader (http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/08/24/red-hat-will-sap-acquire-linux-leader/)
does it make sense for SAP — the German software giant — to open its wallet and buy Red Hat, which is pushing beyond Linux to promote open source middleware and virtualization? The VAR Guy’s answer: A potential SAP-Red Hat combo makes sense. Here’s why.

We live in interesting times, indeed.

[slooksterpsv]

Wow, first Oracle buys Sun; now SAP may buy Red-hat? What's next Novell buy Canonical?

[the8thstar]

I'm going to buy... a beer... and enjoy the rest of the show.

[Dragonbite]

SAP was one of the companies, I though, was in line for buying Novell a while back.

If the cultures between the two companies are compatible, and SAP doesn't inhibit Red Hat from doing what they do now then this may be a boon as it keeps somebody like Oracle buying Red Hat!

[Simian Man]

Wow, first Oracle buys Sun; now SAP may buy Red-hat? What's next Novell buy Canonical?

Except that Red Hat getting bought out would be 100 times worse for open source than Sun being bought out. And Novell buying Canonical would likely improve the state of Linux.


If the cultures between the two companies are compatible, and SAP doesn't inhibit Red Hat from doing what they do now then this may be a boon as it keeps somebody like Oracle buying Red Hat!
Oracle has lead the development of Btrfs, so they aren't really anti-open source. SAP, while I know little about them, don't seem to have even anything like that.

This is obviously still speculation, but this would be really, really bad.

[Spice Weasel]

I wonder if SAP will carry on supporting the Linux community like Red Hat have previously done? It'll be a shame if they don't, because if it wasn't for Red Hat many distributions and Linux itself wouldn't be where they are today. I hope nothing changes and they don't go crazy like Oracle. :(

[RiceMonster]

Hmmm... I guess we'll have to wait untill tommorow at 11 am. SAP as far as I know doesn't have anything opensource, or contribute to anything, so this could mark a HUGE change if the rumour is true.

[Zzl1xndd]

Except that Red Hat getting bought out would be 100 times worse for open source than Sun being bought out. And Novell buying Canonical would likely improve the state of Linux.


Oracle has lead the development of Btrfs, so they aren't really anti-open source. SAP, while I know little about them, don't seem to have even anything like that.

This is obviously still speculation, but this would be really, really bad.

Couldn't agree more with everything you have to say. Novell/Ubuntu might do wonders especially if Suse switched to a Debian base. Also just cause Novell was mentioned, I think they should push Edirectory more on the Linux side. That might make it profitable again as I don't know many presently moving from Active Directory to Edirectory on the Windows side. Just saying might give it a Boost.

Back on topic though, This could be good but it probably wont be.

[KiwiNZ]

SAP has had involvement with Eclipse , MySQL, Novell, Suse to name a few

[Dragonbite]

Couldn't agree more with everything you have to say. Novell/Ubuntu might do wonders especially if Suse switched to a Debian base.

I'm kinda doubting they would do that. Too much has been invested in SUSE and the biggest area I see crossing over between Ubuntu and Novell is Mono.

[Dragonbite]

So, theoretically around 11 AM we should find out if the rumors are true or not.

Remember, you can watch the webcast of the meeting here (http://www-waa-akam.thomson-webcast.net/us/dispatching/?event_id=4823cc54f791257334ecc3038e901faf&portal_id=af9b227bf07c733390c2738ee0330646). You do need to sign up, but it isn't like they email your passcode or link or anything they just jump right into the video player (and elevator music until 11)

[Dragonbite]

It's going on right now.

[Sporkman]

Perhaps this is the big announcement:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Red-Hat-Outlines-bw-3390287359.html?x=0&.v=1


Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT - News), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced its vision for a comprehensive Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution as part of its Cloud Foundations, a portfolio that will promote consistency between enterprise applications and the cloud. Red Hat is the only vendor that has the infrastructure capable of delivering an open source, flexible cloud stack, incorporating operating system, middleware and virtualization. Based on JBoss Enterprise Middleware, Red Hat PaaS is designed to be the solution within the portfolio that will allow enterprises, cloud service providers, ISVs and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers to take existing assets and develop new applications and deploy them to a wide range of public and private clouds....

[MasterNetra]

Rumor is about as reliable as personal opinion, sometimes it MAY turn out to be true, but usually not. It's not wise to put any stock into rumor.


Perhaps this is the big announcement:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Red-Hat-Outlines-bw-3390287359.html?x=0&.v=1

Doesn't mention Red Hat was bought, in fact by the looks of it, Red Hat has no intention of selling itself.

[Dragonbite]

So far, all about cloud computing.

[Dragonbite]

Question time, and nothing about SAP.

[RiceMonster]

Looks like this was just a rumor. I'm not really suprised.

[Sporkman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEWA3xQ7pOA

[Dragonbite]

That's it. All about Deltacloud (http://deltacloud.org/). No selling rumor confirmation.

[MasterNetra]

I emailed them about it, waitin for a reply now.

[MasterNetra]

Got the "We can't comment on rumors or speculation." reply...

[gnomeuser]

Red Hat is doing well, they are profiting in hard economic times, that alone makes them a desirable target for buying.

Before Oracle bought SUN there was speculations that they had their eye on Red Hat. They already have their RHEL based Unbreakable Linux and RH would be able to run with minimal changes as a profit generator and as a wider integration point for Oracles server and database needs.

I'm actually a bit surprised nobody has bought Red Hat yet.

[handy]

Red Hat are by far the entity that contributes the most Linux code.

If they do decide to sell, they should make it known so all of us can buy it.

Because you know what?

We could.

[Swagman]

Red Hat are by far the entity that contributes the most Linux code.

If they do decide to sell, they should make it known so all of us can buy it.

Because you know what?

We could.

+ Eleventy Billion

[handy]

Half empty or half full.

I know which one pays; & works for that matter. :)

[Edit:] The number of currently active users of this forum, just now when I looked is over 13,000. Multiply that by ten & you have a whole lot of money.

Grab most of the Ubuntu members & users & get them to throw $10- in each & you have one mighty big bunch of shareholders.

[Dragonbite]

Half empty or half full.

I know which one pays; & works for that matter. :)

[Edit:] The number of currently active users of this forum, just now when I looked is over 13,000. Multiply that by ten & you have a whole lot of money.

Grab most of the Ubuntu members & users & get them to throw $10- in each & you have one mighty big bunch of shareholders.

Not including Red Hat / Fedora and even openSUSE users!

[alexfish]

league list



Able Sector
Baker Sector
Charlie Sector
Dog Green Sector
Dog White Sector
Dog Red Sector
Easy Green Sector
Easy Red Sector
Fox Green Sector
Fox Red Sector

take your positions

[whiskeylover]

Half empty or half full.

I know which one pays; & works for that matter. :)

[Edit:] The number of currently active users of this forum, just now when I looked is over 13,000. Multiply that by ten & you have a whole lot of money.

Grab most of the Ubuntu members & users & get them to throw $10- in each & you have one mighty big bunch of shareholders.


Good luck coming to a consensus in board meetings.

[rjbl]

'course GNU/Linux is very widely deployed throughout the EU governments and corporates, particularly in the FDR. Makes a lot of sense for an FDR company with a strong record as a corporate toolmaker to look over the GNU/Linux support business. With the relative decline forecast in the US economy vs the rest of the world, just maybe the global vultures are beginning to gather.

rjbl

[KiwiNZ]

Half empty or half full.

I know which one pays; & works for that matter. :)

[Edit:] The number of currently active users of this forum, just now when I looked is over 13,000. Multiply that by ten & you have a whole lot of money.

Grab most of the Ubuntu members & users & get them to throw $10- in each & you have one mighty big bunch of shareholders.

Redhat shares are currently listed on Nasdaq at $US33.25 per share , a lot of piggy banks will need to be broken to buy the 6 Billion shares.

[Simian Man]

If they do decide to sell, they should make it known so all of us can buy it.

Because you know what?

We could.

First off, not all buyouts occur because a company decides to sell. Part of being a publicly traded company means that anybody can buy your stock. If someone buys over half, guess what? They own your company.

Secondly, yeah that would never happen.

[beetleman64]

It makes sense for one enterprise company to buy another enterprise company, and if SAP don't restrict Red Hat and start pulling products like Fedora then it SHOULD be a good thing. What I hope is that we don't see a repeat of the Oracle/Sun debacle, and see SAP putting profits before the community and start shutting down projects.

[handy]

First off, not all buyouts occur because a company decides to sell. Part of being a publicly traded company means that anybody can buy your stock. If someone buys over half, guess what? They own your company.

Secondly, yeah that would never happen.

I know, I know.

I come here to amuse myself, why are you here? :)

[Zorgoth]

Redhat shares are currently listed on Nasdaq at $US33.25 per share , a lot of piggy banks will need to be broken to buy the 6 Billion shares.

Mmmmmmm... 6 billion times 33 is 180 billion. For a company worth 750 M a year? I don't think so. RH has 188 million shares outstanding according to their website, 94 million of which you need to control the company. That's about 3 billion dollars. Still a lot of money, but...

edit: oops that's only the shares people other than red hat own. but i maintain my point that red hat does not have 6 billion shares

[KiwiNZ]

Mmmmmmm... 6 billion times 33 is 180 billion. For a company worth 750 M a year? I don't think so. RH has 188 million shares outstanding according to their website, 94 million of which you need to control the company. That's about 3 billion dollars. Still a lot of money, but...

edit: oops that's only the shares people other than red hat own. but i maintain my point that red hat does not have 6 billion shares

I was trying to make a tongue in check point I was not being pedantic.:rolleyes:

They probably have between 300 to 500 million shares out, I am not going to look to fullfil a wim.

[Sporkman]

Red Hat challenges MS Azure...


In a nutshell, Red Hat’s cloud strategy includes platform-as-a-service, a JBoss middleware effort to allow open developer choice and moves aimed to put the company in the middle of cloud applications.

Paul Cormier, president of Red Hat’s products and technology business, said Red Hat is aiming to align all of its products with cloud computing. In Cormier’s view, there are only two companies that can provide a stack of cloud-enabled enterprise software—Red Hat and Microsoft.

The takeaway: Red Hat is positioning itself as the open source cloud provider and as an alternative to Microsoft’s Azure platform. The company touted a cloud computing win with Dreamworks Animation. Red Hat’s take: No customer should be locked into a cloud platform...

http://seekingalpha.com/article/222289-red-hat-sets-its-cloud-strategy-eyes-microsoft-azure-alternative