Marcel LUX III SARL (Marcel) as the largest shareholder in SUSE is planning to take the company private and delist it from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. SUSE will be merged with an unlisted Luxembourg entity. Marcel currently owns a 79% stake in SUSE.

SUSE.com press release

  • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml
    6·
    2 years ago

    If they’re public, they have huge pressure. If not, they can play their own game with a specific strategy that a shareholder might not like. So this could well be a good thing. Public trading usually leads to enshitification.

    • ag_roberston_author@beehaw.org
      6·
      2 years ago

      Marcel LUX III SARL

      Company wholly owned by the EQT group, a publicly traded global investment organization. This is just going to lead to more enshittification.

  • kool_newt@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Huh, this could be a good thing, stop them from being a target for shorts and free them from the typical pattern. But now it totally depends on whether the private owners suck or not. Let’s hope for the best!

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The SUSE organization has changed hands many times over the years… From being its own independent company to the notable acquisition by Novell two decades ago.

    Over the past decade SUSE has changed hands between Attachmate, Micro Focus, EQT Partners, and then went public back in 2021 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

    Marcel LUX III SARL (Marcel) as the largest shareholder in SUSE is planning to take the company private and delist it from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

    In taking SUSE private, the EQT Private Equity / Marcel is offering a ~16 EUR per share price, around a 67% premium over today’s share price.

    "SUSE’s Management Board and Supervisory Board support the strategic opportunity from delisting of the company as it will allow SUSE to focus fully on its operational priorities and execution of its long-term strategy.

    The interim dividend will be paid to all shareholders prior to the settlement of the Offer and will allow Marcel to finance its purchase of SUSE shares under the Offer and certain transaction costs incurred by it."

    I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • Southern Wolf@pawb.social
      1·
      2 years ago

      Good bot!

      Also, I’d argue this is a good step forward for Suse, as it will take a lot of shareholder pressure off of them.

  • bahmanm@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I wonder what would that mean for openSUSE, given that, apparently, an equity firm is making decisions on behalf of the SUSE board 😞

    • jollyrogue@lemmy.ml
      0·
      2 years ago

      That’s a good question, and who is the mysterious 3rd party SUSE is going to be merged with?

      Debian is looking better and better everyday.

    • empireOfLove@lemmy.oneEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      It’s private equity. Assume it’s going to involve bending over with no lube and a lot of lawyers.

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
        0·
        2 years ago

        Choo choooo all aboard the Enshittification Express

        A bit of a shame because i’ve been eyeing a few Rolling Release distros to move to.

        Edit: typo

        • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
          1·
          2 years ago

          There’s really no reason not to check out OpenSUSE, if you wanted to. If it does go down the enshittification path, it’ll no doubt be forked, given how relatively popular it is.

          This move isn’t anything new by the way - SUSE was only public for two years, and was a private entity prior to that. If you’re worried about enshittification, you should’ve worried about it back when it was acquired by Novell, in 2003. Everyone said SUSE was doomed, but it continued on without any issues. SUSE changed ownership thrice since then, and yet it still stands strong, even two decades after Novell’s acquisition. So I expect this move won’t change anything, at least in the short term.

  • dontcarebear@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

    I made a comment on a redhat criticism not too long ago about it leaving debian and SUSE as the viable options.

    Whelp… Better cross SUSE off…

      • Shareni@programming.dev
        2·
        2 years ago

        When Suse was privately owned by Nowell they helped Microsoft screw over the entire Linux community for over a decade.

        • bellsDoSing@lemm.ee
          0·
          2 years ago

          The past doesn’t necessarily dictate the future. If the people in charge of SUSE’s direction going forward think way differently than the one’s back in regards to your comment, then the outcome can be different / better for the Linux community, can’t it?

          • dontcarebear@lemmy.ml
            3·
            2 years ago

            You’re both correct, there is no guarantee that the new owner will necessarily be bad… But I hold distrust against such moves.

            We’ll wait and see, I guess.

    • Shareni@programming.dev
      2·
      2 years ago

      Let’s remember a time when Suse was owned by Nowell. Suse “admited” to Linux infringing on Microsoft’s patents in order to screw over redhat, and that allowed MS to continuously harras the entire Linux community for like a decade.