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SUSE to go private

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Re: SUSE to go private

#111

Post by genter »

emmett wrote: post #46
bloopernova wrote: post #8

What are the success stories of private equity firms taking over a corporation? (Where success is the products are still made, quality and staffing is maintained at previous levels)

Safeway seems to be run pretty well, after being taken private by PE in the 80s. Warren Buffet runs Berkshire Hathaway which is acts as a PE firm. Here's a list of everything they own and have owned for decades: https://finmasters.com/berkshire-hathaway-subsidiaries/#cons... There are plenty of other examples. PE is just "ownership not through the public stock markets" which is like...the default, actually.

Safeway might be OK for shoppers, but it's terrible for the workers. My Grandma worked there from 1965 to 1985, and watched the decline in the 80s. It was a really good paying job with a good union and good benefits when she started. My brother and cousin worked there a decade ago. Today, the union is a joke, and the hours and pay are the same as any other minimum wage job.

Re: SUSE to go private

#112

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

> They believe that it will enable SUSE to concentrate on its operational priorities and the execution of its long-term strategy without the pressure of public markets.

What have they put into a contract to make sure that happens.

Companies will make many promises when they undergo changes in ownership. All those words and intentions are worth nothing unless they are specified as part of a binding legal contract.

Re: SUSE to go private

#113

Post by alanwreath »

tempest_ wrote: post #96
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to run SUSE about 20 years ago and have always thought it was cool but haven't kept up with it much since then. What are some of the things they do that make them unparalleled?

A lot of the sibling comments are talking about this distro itself but they are also neglecting SUSE foray into the container orchestration space with Rancher and K3s. I would assume that is where they are looking to grow.

I’d be surprised if they made K3S closed source. Isn’t it already a cncf project?

—update, sheesh. It’s not even incubating.

Re: SUSE to go private

#114

Post by unmole »

LanternLight83 wrote: post #106
COGlory wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open Build System and OpenQA, for automated building and testing of packages. This is what gets updates to their rolling release Tumbleweed faster than Arch, but with no instability ever. I can't emphasize enough how rock solid Tumbleweed is. OBS also doubles as their own AUR equivalent - you can make your own repo and do your own builds and install from the command line, or browse and install what other people have…

ooo, that auto rollback sounds really cool-- got any idea how that's done? I assume it's handled by checking for eg. a dirty-fs-flag just before the initfs boots the real system, but what if there's breakage in userspace (eg. the login manager) or in the initramfs itself?

Snapper creates a Btrfs snapshot before any change in the root filesystem. If something breaks, you choose an older snapshot to boot from via grub.

Re: SUSE to go private

#115

Post by spicyusername »

riffic wrote: post #108

20 something years of using Linux and I have never had the urge to even look at Suse. who's life is affected by this?

...e...everyone who uses it...?

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but when something isn't directly in your line of sight, it still exists...

Re: SUSE to go private

#116

Post by sigzero »

canpan wrote: post #95
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to run SUSE about 20 years ago and have always thought it was cool but haven't kept up with it much since then. What are some of the things they do that make them unparalleled?

So I just installed it yesterday on my new home PC. Switching from Windows after I sold my old PC. (I do like gaming sometimes). Installation worked flawlessly. Hardware was detected on the spot. I could install NVidia's official driver through YaST. Installing Steam from the package manager. Now I am sitting with a switch pro controller and playing Hogwarts Legacy. All around a solid experience. Their biggest compet…

Did you go with Leap or Tumbleweed?

Re: SUSE to go private

#117

Post by yawaramin »

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #55
yawaramin wrote: post #39

So...uh...after all that drama from SuSE about how 'IBM' destroyed RHEL after acquiring Red Hat, they turn around and get acquired by the nearest bidder. That's hilarious. Nowadays I often compare this kind of hypocrisy to the 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' scene where Strucker shouts 'No surrender!' and riles up his henchmen, then immediately turns to his second-in-command and says, 'I am going to surrender'.

The company is already 79% owned by the acquirer. Who exactly do you think should be slamming on the brakes here?

Nobody. And I never insinuated that they shouldn't get wholly acquired. I just said that they made a big song and dance about how getting acquired was the downfall of Red Hat, then went ahead with their own acquisition. That's what I found funny.

Re: SUSE to go private

#118

Post by saghm »

buzer wrote: post #105
treesciencebot wrote: post #81

Is there any reason for the buyer here who already owns almost 80% of the company to offer a 67% premium for the remaining 20% of the shares? What would have happened if they offered a 30% premium or a 15% one (from what I understand, they have both simple majority and qualified majority so that means they don't really need to ask anyone for anything). It's not like they want to get 100% ownership since this is a pur…

In Finland if someone controls over 90% of the shares they have right to forcefully buy rest of the shares (and also obligation if someone wants to sell at at that point). So if they wanted to go fully own the company they need to high enough offer that they will at least hit 90%. I'm not sure if you could from public company to private without all shareholders agreeing to it as that would benefit large shareholder a…

Interesting; if someone does this, do they have to pay a premium at all, or are they able to buy them at the exact current market rate? Also is this just for publicly traded companies or private ones as well? At least in the US, my understanding is that private companies set the "fair market value" of their shares themselves, so I'd be worried that someone could purposely set the price low to be able to buy them out more cheaply.

Re: SUSE to go private

#119

Post by zeruch »

It's not going private. It's getting ready to spiral out in typical PE fashion.

Start planning your migrations folks, as its all downhill from here.

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