Linux Supplier to Get Equity Investment
nytimes.com
The Compaq Computer Corporation, the International Business Machines Corporation, Novell Inc. and the Oracle Corporation have each taken a minority position in the company, Red Hat's chief executive, Robert F. Young, said yesterday.
From the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
IBM, Compaq and Novell Invest in Red Hat
Red Hat Software Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C., a distributor of the increasingly popular Linux computer operating system, said it obtained equity investments from three more computer companies: International Business Machines Corp., Compaq Computer Corp. and Novell Inc. The announcement brings to six the number of major technology suppliers that have taken stakes in Red Hat. Investments by Intel Corp., Netscape Communications Corp. and Oracle Corp. had previously been disclosed. No terms of any of the deals have been disclosed. Linux is an operating system developed under the supervision of Linus Torvalds, who currently works with a Silicon Valley start-up. While the software itself is free, companies such as Red Hat hope to profit by selling support and service to corporations using Linux. In recent months, several major computer companies have expressed an interest in Linux, many of them seeing it as an alternative to the Windows software sold by Microsoft Corp. The latest deals were seen as evidence of continuing corporate support for the software. |
