SUSE acquired by EQT [LWN.net]

SUSE has announced that it has been acquired again — this time by an investment company called EQT. Some more bright-future talk can be found in this blog entry: "In keeping with our 25-year history, SUSE intends to remain committed to an open source development and business model and actively participate in communities and projects to bring open source innovation to the enterprise as high quality, reliable and usable solutions. Our truly open, open source model, where open refers to the freedom of choice provided to customers and not just the code used in our solutions, is embedded in SUSE culture, differentiates us in the market place and has been key to our years of success."

to post comments

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 14:43 UTC (Mon) by NightMonkey (subscriber, #23051) [Link] (13 responses)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EQT They are primarily a fossil fuels extraction and delivery company. Not exactly the kind of company that would appear to support openness and transparency. They are in the royalty of the fracking industry:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-pennsylvania-eq...

Yikes. Sorry, SUSE and SUSE users. My hopes turn towards a fork. Good luck.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 14:49 UTC (Mon) by NightMonkey (subscriber, #23051) [Link]

My apologies - this is wrong - this is a different EQT, not the fossil fuels company.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 14:51 UTC (Mon) by Inkane (guest, #90843) [Link]

I think you've got the wrong EQT. As far as I can tell, they were aquired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EQT_Partners . I can't comment on the “goodness” of that company, but they at least don't seem to be involved in fracking.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 14:53 UTC (Mon) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] (10 responses)

From the PR, its seems unlikley to be this EQT firm, but rather this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EQT_Partners

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 16:25 UTC (Mon) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link] (8 responses)

Most importantly it is *not Micro Focus*, who are basically asset strippers for dying software companies, and are in significant trouble because they acquired the wreckage of Autonomy from HP Enterprise and have been bitten hard by that flaming disaster to the tune of billions of pounds. SuSE has got out before Micro Focus goes under, and hopefully before Brexit holes what's left of the UK economy under the waterline.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 16:42 UTC (Mon) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] (1 responses)

That's too bad. Micro Focus used to be a real database company. I interviewed with the founder in the '80's. Nice guy. Decided not to take the job, and eventually went to Pixar.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 6, 2018 11:07 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

I was perhaps a little too harsh. They don't *destroy* the companies they buy and sell them for parts, like asset-strippers do: but they just keep them in maintenance mode and milk them gently for cash until there is nothing left. They were always odd stewards for SUSE: maybe they were trying to expand into something more, before the Autonomy/HPE thing blew them up (HPE being a classic "mature, milk it" Micro Focus acquisition).

They are sort of the opposite of a "move fast and break things" tech company. Move very carefully and break nothing.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 18:44 UTC (Mon) by SEJeff (guest, #51588) [Link] (1 responses)

Why does Brexit matter to SUSE (besides making the EU / UK markets go for a ride)? Is SUSE no longer based out of Nürnberg?

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 19:04 UTC (Mon) by jrigg (guest, #30848) [Link]

> Why does Brexit matter to SUSE (besides making the EU / UK markets go for a ride)? Is SUSE no longer based out of Nürnberg?

Micro Focus is a UK company.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 19:23 UTC (Mon) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link] (1 responses)

Before they bought SUSE, the only thing I knew about Micro Focus is they were selling a COBOL compiler. Google searches indicate they still do.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 5, 2018 8:39 UTC (Thu) by skx (subscriber, #14652) [Link]

Back in the day I used MicroFocus COBOL on SCO Unixware. That was before SCO changed hands, and started their anti-Linux lawsuits.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 22:05 UTC (Mon) by alspnost (guest, #2763) [Link] (1 responses)

Nix - too right. I worked for Autonomy briefly, many years ago, at their Cambridge (UK) HQ. Absolutely awful company with a toxic culture and massive staff turnover. I'm afraid I have been quietly laughing at their slow and painful demise, and HPE's very public legal battles against the former directors. Not sure what Micro Focus thought they were buying!

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 3, 2018 11:41 UTC (Tue) by wazoox (subscriber, #69624) [Link]

A customer of mine bought the Autonomy software around the time HP bought the company. You wouldn't believe the utter horsecrap the sales guys told back then... I think probably the product was a complete scam from start to finish.

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 3, 2018 6:41 UTC (Tue) by burki99 (subscriber, #17149) [Link]

That is correct. They are tied to the Wallenberg family, which once owned almost half of Sweden's industrial power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallenberg_family and "What is EQT's relation to Investor AB and the Wallenberg family?" on http://www.eqtpartners.com/About-EQT/Questions-and-Answers/).

SUSE acquired by EQT

Posted Jul 2, 2018 17:36 UTC (Mon) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266) [Link]

Found on HN what seems to be the other side of this news: http://www.eqtpartners.com/news/Press-Releases/2018/eqt-t...