SCO's new reorganization plan [LWN.net]

SCO has sent out a press release detailing a new plan to come out of bankruptcy. It seems that Stephen Norris Capital Partners "and its partners from the Middle East" have offered to put $100 million into the company and take it private. "SNCP has developed a business plan for SCO that includes unveiling new product lines aimed at global customers. This reorganization plan will also enable the company to see SCO's legal claims through to their full conclusion." We may be stuck with this story for a little longer than we had thought.

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 14, 2008 20:52 UTC (Thu) by and (guest, #2883) [Link] (5 responses)

> We may be stuck with this story for a little longer than we had thought.

To me this sounds rather like good news for Novell: They might actually 
get the $25 millions they're almost certainly entitled to...

"up to"

Posted Feb 14, 2008 21:52 UTC (Thu) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link] (1 responses)

They're putting in up to $100 million. I spent up to $100 million on a sandwich for lunch today.

"up to"

Posted Feb 14, 2008 23:43 UTC (Thu) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698) [Link]

I'll bet you can get a pretty tasty sandwich for up to $100 million.

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 5:47 UTC (Fri) by gdt (subscriber, #6284) [Link] (2 responses)

It's not cash but a loan facility (ie, a promise to give a loan in the future). It's not an asset which can be transferred. Why would Novell want a $100m loan with a 26%pa interest rate in any case?

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 10:35 UTC (Fri) by jamesh (guest, #1159) [Link]

If SCO used a loan to pay off a damages award to Novell, the interest on the loan would still
be SCO's problem, wouldn't it?

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 15:07 UTC (Fri) by ikm (guest, #493) [Link]

I thought it was an investment, not a loan.

There's no silver bullet.

Posted Feb 15, 2008 0:15 UTC (Fri) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322) [Link]

maybe they should have tried the wooden stake instead...

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 5:14 UTC (Fri) by nukem (guest, #41528) [Link] (4 responses)

These guys must have more money than brains..  I've got some gator swamp land in Florida I
want to sell them.  Obviously they haven't got the brains God Give'a Goose!  

Nukem

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 6:54 UTC (Fri) by jd (guest, #26381) [Link] (3 responses)

Depends a bit on what they want SCO for. Political purposes? Distraction? Since SCO will have
to pay a lot of money out in fines, it's not for obvious investment purposes. If someone wants
to get money out, it's not clear how they could do so by orthodox means (biggest debtors get
paid first) or why they'd go to the effort just to get back what they put in. Hmmmmm. A way to
reduce taxes? Invest in debt to reduce tax liability, perhaps? (Only works if the debt they're
buying reduces the taxes they'd have to pay by significantly more than the investment, or by
something comparable if they can get the ivestment back before the fines are due.)

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 12:38 UTC (Fri) by TxtEdMacs (guest, #5983) [Link] (2 responses)

If it were only that benign.  That is, only a somewhat honest playing the tax rules.  However,
these characters are politically connected and seem able to buy the results they seek.  More
akin to the mob business model that MS tried to emulate.  Indeed, Bill G. seems to be
involved.

Read the Groklaw coverage; it's not pretty.  Watching corporations getting special treatment
by our new fascist form of government does not fill my mind with confidence. These people and
companies have gotten their way in the past.  Look at the full course press to give telecom
companies immunity for knowingly breaking the law, retroactively.

http://web.archive.org/web/20200214031005/http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080214125705140

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 15:54 UTC (Fri) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link] (1 responses)

> Watching corporations getting special treatment by our new fascist form of government does
not fill my mind with confidence.

Heh.  The word 'fascist' is so often used as a pejorative now days that the actual meaning has
been forgotten (or never known) by many.

God help us if we actually were (any of us) living under a fascist government.

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 21, 2008 14:56 UTC (Thu) by lysse (guest, #3190) [Link]

"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the
growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state
itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a
group, or by any other controlling private power."
-- Franklin D Roosevelt, 1938.

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 13:09 UTC (Fri) by ekj (guest, #1524) [Link]

Excellent news.

I much prefer SCO to go out with a bang rather than fizzle out. I wish for them to live long
enough to actually -LOSE- brutally hard, not simply go out of business and silently disappear
with no clear resolution.

Offcourse, these cases being in the USA, I don't know what's a likely timeline for that,
another DECADE ?

It's plain ridicolous, and actually MUCH more scary than SCO as such ever was.

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 15:06 UTC (Fri) by ccchips (subscriber, #3222) [Link] (1 responses)

I'm trying to think of a good mythological or biblical story about someone who tries to buy
his way out of Hell.....

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 15, 2008 19:43 UTC (Fri) by felixrabe (guest, #50514) [Link]

You likely meant that to read "into hell" in this case...

If I may put on my tin foil hat for a moment...

Posted Feb 15, 2008 17:21 UTC (Fri) by leoc (guest, #39773) [Link]

So SCO is getting $100 million from some unnamed "partners from the Middle East". Interestingly, last year, Stephen Norris was also involved in a $3.8 billion dollar transaction involving Bill Gates and Prince Al-Waleed of Saudi Arabia. From the article:

Gates and Alwaleed have collaborated for at least two years. After attending a dinner at Gates's home in Bellevue, Washington, in early 2004, Alwaleed agreed to explore ways to assist Microsoft's expansion in Saudi Arabia.

SCO AND MICROSOFT

Posted Feb 15, 2008 22:01 UTC (Fri) by Dulles (guest, #48537) [Link] (1 responses)

Just how ignorant and clueless are Linux users? Microsoft and the Saudis have done business
for years (just like the Bush crime family). The SCO case was a Microsoft front from day one.
At last report, Microsoft had a $50 billion checking account. They can easily put another $250
million into SCO. What would you do if you were the biggest monopoly in history? With a lot of
bored lawyers sitting around?

SCO AND MICROSOFT

Posted Feb 15, 2008 22:38 UTC (Fri) by s_cargo (guest, #10473) [Link]

Please spare us the political sputum.

SCO's new reorganization plan

Posted Feb 18, 2008 13:48 UTC (Mon) by laidlaws (guest, #26237) [Link]

Can't SCO be asked to give security for costs before they are allowed to proceed further with
their "claim"?