SUN acquires MySQL for $1Gazillion

So Pony Tail Boy woke up a couple of month ago and decided he had nothing to lose in software and that he might as well go out and spend a bunch of money on Open Source.

First off: CONGRATULATIONS TO MY FRIENDS AT MYSQL. YOU GUYS DESERVE IT AND I AM TRULY HAPPY FOR ALL OF YOU. YOUR PATIENCE, TALENT AND DEDICATION HAVE PAID OFF. WELL DONE MARTEN, WELL DONE EVERYONE.

Second. I undersold.

Third. There will not be an open source company that goes public for the foreseeable future. Liquidity is too good and too hard to pass up. The players are too big with too much at stake. That's a shame... I wanted to see an ecosystem of independent companies.

Fourth. SUN goes with MySQL, BEA is acquired by ORACLE. When the music stops there is only one chair left, RHT. The music stopped this morning.

I need a Xanax

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm not really getting the musical chairs metaphor. :) Could you clarify what you mean by "The music stopped..."? Thanks.
Anonymous said…
I think Fleury means "The last guy at the table gets stuck with the bill."

Then again, maybe someone will buy the DB-less RHT.
adt43wt342 said…
There is one chair left. The chair being "standalone independent OSS company" (of significant size).

RHT goes and OSS will both be the biggest trend in software as having transformed the industry as well as a footnote from the financial aspect....

We just can't cut the mustard and go public on OSS business models?
muelli said…
From todays view you certainly undersold, yes. But you did it long time ago and that was ok.
Matt Asay said…
You didn't undersell. You got almost the exact same valuation multiple as MySQL did. You just sold before you were doing $60 - 80M. Had you waited a year longer, you would have had your billion.

But why wait? You got a boatload of cash and you're playing XBox all day. You're not hurting, Marc! :-)
adt43wt342 said…
Yeah, I was being facetious. The truth is that I don't know what to do with the money and I don't need more money to play games (btw I game on PS3) or to enjoy the freedom.
God said…
If you have more than you need, and don't know what to do with it, why not do something similar to the B&M Gates foundation?
adt43wt342 said…
Dear God,

I don't have that kind of money.
adt43wt342 said…
And frankly,

I talk about the death of OSS as a standalone business model and all you guys can talk about is my money?

sheeesh
Unknown said…
Ok. You didn't get your $1B with JBoss. So why not give it another shot and start another company. I bet you must be starting to feel tired of djing and playing all day :-) especially with the lack of good titles in the PS3.
Anonymous said…
A while back you gave a presentation at Javapolis on free software business models as Grand Masta Fleury: http://www.parleys.com/display/PARLEYS/Professional%20Open%20Source

You described the various options available: leveraging free software, training & consultancy, services & support, subscriptions, dual licencing, on-ramp.

Looking through those:
* On-ramp = big guys
* Training, consultancy, services, support: Low margins, not much capital investment, difficult to scale
* Dual licencing: Build a brand, make money off volume (à la QT or MySQL). Potential IPO, but much more likely to be acquired before an IPO.
* Subscription: Required a brand, and usually lives with other activities (support), requires high R&D costs (see Red Hat).

The bottom line: Pretty much every free software model will suffer from scalability issues at some stage, and pretty much every model has you getting into the black early in your cycle.

Your capital investment (in time at least) is *before* you're a viable option for VC, usually - you need a brand to be attractive to seed capital with the free software model, because your brand is your value.

So on the contrary, I don't think you're describing the death of the OSS business model, I think you're merely describing the way free software business works. Small companies making a decent profit, or big companies leveraging free software divisions to get big enterprise customers. Outside of that, there's not much left.
God said…
"I talk about the death of OSS as a standalone business model and all you guys can talk about is my money?"

I thought the main topic was the venting (understandably human nature) on how you undersold to RH compared to MySQL's "$1Gazillion" ;-)

But seriously, I'm glad you and Matt made it big, although Matt's is bigger - ok, ok , seriously...in either case, it's more than you can reasonably spend in a lifetime. I hope you guys spend it wisely.
adt43wt342 said…
Joao,

No good titles on PS3???

whatever you are smoking, i don't want it.

I just finished Assassin's Creed which looks AMAZING on PS3 and is one of the best games I have ever played.
COD4 was out there, Ratchett and Clank was a blast. Rock Band is minting it. We, console gamers have been BLESSED.
adt43wt342 said…
Daveinfx,

touche, I am glad what I say doesn't completely go un-noticed. You are right I am merely describing WHAT WORKS in OSS.

I think this second generation of OSS (JBoss/MySQL) while very successful, heck I am not complaining, has failed to produce public companies. There are countless software companies that are publicly traded but only ONE (RHT) focused on OSS.

Before anyone argues that IBM and SUN and Oracle are all "OSS" companies because they use/sell/produce OSS, I want to preempt by saying I am only considering companies that do ONLY OSS and not OSS subsidized with hardware or proprietary software with on-ramp. RHT is OSS pure on the bits and the license for the distribution is effectively proprietary.

My hope, ala "obiwan" is that we see a "McKinsey of code" emerge. In the thread on OSS models I argue that it needs to go with non-VC money or with VC-money that is VERY VERY patient. Private money is probably a better venue. But it is my conviction that such a company will grow to be a multi-billion dollar consultancy.
adt43wt342 said…
Dear God,

don't you have better things to do than talk about mamoneh?

Yes I will put it to good use, don't worry. I am a idealist realist, if that makes any sense and equipped with capital and credibility, I am deadly.

But for now, I am going to Vail tomorrow with ma boys.
Anonymous said…
Marc:
Would you be interested in coaching / mentoring a Free Software bio-informatics startup? We have developed a Personal Health Records (PHR) system, and we're working on a vertical search engine for health data. See http://www.OpenPHI.com Thanks.
adt43wt342 said…
Jose,

send me an email with more details, thanks
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