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Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

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Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#61

Post by jt2190 »

advisedwang wrote: post #52
jt2190 wrote: post #24

I’m deeply confused by this article: Is there a single entity acting as both a producer/seller of computers, and as a not-for-profit? Or are there two distinct entities? (This would be a similar to the Kellogg Trust/Foundation here in then U.S., owner of the cereal company.)

Two separate entitites (you can see the two separate registration numbers on https://www.raspberrypi.org/about/ ). The charity owns the for-profit.

Thank you! I’ll copy/paste here:

The Foundation:

> Raspberry Pi Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales (1129409). Registered as a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales No.06758215. Registered office: Raspberry Pi Foundation, 37 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1NT.

> For filings related to the Raspberry Pi Foundation North America 501(c)(3) charity, please contact us.

The computer designer/manufacturer/seller:

> Raspberry Pi (Trading) Limited. Registered as a company No.08207441 Registered office: Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS.

So the for-profit Raspberry Pi (Trading) may IPO, and I assume that the Raspberry Pi Foundation is a major shareholder, if not the owner of greater than 50% of outstanding shares after an IPO.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#62

Post by adrian_mrd »

So what is the distinction between Raspberry Pi Trading and Raspberry Pi Foundation from an organisational/legal perspective?

Is Raspberry Pi Foundation an entity or sub-entity of Raspberry Pi Trading, or just an affiliated organisation where Ebon Upton has roles in both organisations?

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#63

Post by 0des »

beckman466 wrote: post #57
0des wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do we stop this cycle where it's a (well-deserved) reluctant goodbye every time a company we like seeks to go public and IPO? It's like the writing's on the wall and we already know what's going to happen.. We're in a segment of time where companies are so over-valued by VC that when they go public they have no choice but to engage in egregious practices to maintain the stock price. It often alienates the custome…

> How do we stop this cycle where it's a (well-deserved) reluctant goodbye every time a company we like seeks to go public and IPO? venture communism instead of venture capitalism? peer-to-peer communism instead of the client server state? http://media.telekommunisten.net/manifesto.pdf

While I respect your willingness to think outside of the box, and am thankful for your reply, I am old enough to remember that communism is not something I personally desire.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#64

Post by diveanon »

0des wrote: post #30
jacknews wrote: post #9

RIP RPi. I thought the whole idea was to produce boards, priced near cost, for educational/inspirational purposes? ie to give today's kids the same kind of intro to computers (you have to program it) as kids enjoyed with the home computers of the 80's. The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission.

How do we stop this cycle where it's a (well-deserved) reluctant goodbye every time a company we like seeks to go public and IPO? It's like the writing's on the wall and we already know what's going to happen.. We're in a segment of time where companies are so over-valued by VC that when they go public they have no choice but to engage in egregious practices to maintain the stock price. It often alienates the custome…

Aka capitalism.

We know it sucks, but gotta get yours while you can right?

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#65

Post by regularfry »

robomartin wrote: post #35
jacknews wrote: post #9

RIP RPi. I thought the whole idea was to produce boards, priced near cost, for educational/inspirational purposes? ie to give today's kids the same kind of intro to computers (you have to program it) as kids enjoyed with the home computers of the 80's. The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission.

> The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission. You cannot have any kind of a company without profit. Period. I am not sure where the vilification of profit comes from (not addressing you in particular but rather the general concept), its just silly. Companies have layers upon layers of costs in their financial equation. Employees and ongoing operational expenses being the…

> Even charities have to operate at a profit. Without this they would not have people, offices, marketing and the means to perform their stated charitable objectives.

This is factually incorrect. Charities (at least in the UK) are legally prohibited from making a profit.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#66

Post by mytailorisrich »

mywittyname wrote: post #31
mytailorisrich wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The for-profit company has been raising money from investors in order to finance growth. I'm sure that an IPO would result in the charity getting cash but the aim does not seem to be that. Now, the good thing is of course that the accounts of the foundation are public [1]. I am not impressed that only about 10% of their income goes to "charitable activities". [1] https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk…

10% of their income is likely the majority of their profits, which are probably in the neighborhood of 10-15%.

A charity does not make any profit.

The point being that, approximately, for every £10 that they get through donations or any other source, £9 goes to costs and £1 to actual charitable activities. Personally I would not donate to such a charity.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#67

Post by regularfry »

adrian_mrd wrote: post #62

So what is the distinction between Raspberry Pi Trading and Raspberry Pi Foundation from an organisational/legal perspective? Is Raspberry Pi Foundation an entity or sub-entity of Raspberry Pi Trading, or just an affiliated organisation where Ebon Upton has roles in both organisations?

Other way round. Raspberry Pi Trading is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#68

Post by robomartin »

door103 wrote: post #44
robomartin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission. You cannot have any kind of a company without profit. Period. I am not sure where the vilification of profit comes from (not addressing you in particular but rather the general concept), its just silly. Companies have layers upon layers of costs in their financial equation. Employees and ongoing operational expenses being the…

> you have to care about them making a profit or watch them evaporate. There is a difference between making a profit and maximizing profit. A publicly traded company is legally bound to do the latter.

> There is a difference between making a profit and maximizing profit. A publicly traded company is legally bound to do the latter.

That's a lie.

There is NO such legal requirement at all. None.

Google it.

Here's a starting point:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Are+U.S+companies+legally+ob...

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#69

Post by mytailorisrich »

gchadwick wrote: post #43
mytailorisrich wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The for-profit company has been raising money from investors in order to finance growth. I'm sure that an IPO would result in the charity getting cash but the aim does not seem to be that. Now, the good thing is of course that the accounts of the foundation are public [1]. I am not impressed that only about 10% of their income goes to "charitable activities". [1] https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk…

If you spend a few minutes digging into the accounts ( https://static.raspberrypi.org/files/about/RaspberryPiFounda... ) this appears to have a reasonable explanation. The other 90% gets classed as 'fund-raising', what is actually is is money going into raspberry pi trading. rpi trading made a profit of around £10m which goes back as income into the charity and has mostly been spent on charitable activities. I'm not…

Your explanation does not make sense.

If the commercial subsidiary is here to make them money then it should appear under "income", not "expenditure", and it probably does just not explicitly in that pie chart (it's probably under 'other' or 'other trading activities').

Expenditure is what the charity spends its money on, that is, costs (offices, personel, fund-raising activities, etc) and charitable activities. Anyone donating to a charity wants as much money as possible going to charitable activities.

We could look at another charity to compare. Off the top of my head, a famous one I know is Crisis (homeless charity) [1]: Record shows 50%+ of income spent on charitable activities, which does make Raspberry Pi Foundation's numbers look quite unimpressive.

[1] https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/chari...

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