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SCO Goes Private With $100 Million Backing
AmIAnAi writes "Just when you thought it was all over, the SCO story takes a new twist. SCO has received $100 million financing from Stephen Norris Capital Partners to get them out of Chapter 11 and go private 'The move gives Stephen Norris, whose namesake founder was a co-founder of private equity giant The Carlyle Group, a controlling interest in SCO, which now has a platform to continue its court battle with Novell Inc. over royalties from the Unix server operating system, SCO's main business ... According to a statement from the company, SNCP already has a business plan for SCO that includes pursuing its legal claims.'"
... the Stephen Norris group. When do the judges get sick of barratry?
Dog is my co-pilot.
Man oh man...
This news completely ruins my day.
I just know that tonight while my lady is receiving the annual ~Valentine Fisting~ my mind will be on SCO and their ridiculous lawsuits, not on the work at hand. She'll know something is bugging me, get pissed off and make me stop. I'll have KY to my elbows for nothing.
Thanks SCO.
Trolling is a art,
What kind of genius investment group thinks sueing IBM is a winning proposition?
Step 1. Pile money onto a sinking ship
Step 2. ???
Step 3. Profit!
I have a very poor financial outlook for the near future, why can't somebody give me $100 million? Hell, I'll use that to make legal claims about somebody else's IP! I can probably even develop an operating system nobody in their right mind would use.
Oh, a lesson in history from Mr. I'm my own grandpa.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Lets take inventory.
* Taking a beating in court.
* Its only valid business is a dying operating system.
* Your customers and pretty the entire tech industry hates you.
* The company is in chapter 11.
* The company has a negative cash flow.
* The judge in your case appears to hate you because of your court practices.
* I hate you.
Yeah, lets throw $100 million at them...
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Thanks to spacelifeform on GL:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/12/bloomberg/bxfour.php
NEW YORK: Four Seasons Hotels, the manager of 74 luxury hotels, said Monday that it had agreed to be taken private by Bill Gates, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and the chief executive for $3.8 billion, including debt.
Coincedence?
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Who is Stephen Norris,
http://www.snpartners.com/norris.html
Looks like there could very easily be some behind the curtain financing of this through foreign nationals.
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Mr. Norris acted as a principal financial advisor to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Saud of Kingdom Holding Company, in structuring and negotiating the re-capitalization of Citibank, which returned over $15 billion in profits on about $590 million of equity invested. He also advised or played a key role in other Kingdom Holding Company investments. He was appointed by former president George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as one of five governing members of the $100 billion Federal Retirement System Thrift Investment Board.
Since 1997, Mr. Norris, and certain members of his team, have worked on a number of investments including real estate investments in Europe and the United States. They were involved in amongst others the privatization of Thompson CSF, the recapitalization of Suez, the acquisition of portions of Credit Foncier's real estate portfolio in Paris by the German firm of IVG, the formation of Nomura's (London) bid for a Dutch mortgage bank, the offer by a major Saudia Arabian investment firm for Lamborgini in Italy, and the formation of a bid by Leucadia International's for the Labouchere Bank in Holland. He also negotiated and structured investments in Synxis Corporation, which was backed by George Soros and Mr. Norris, and MARC Global Holdings.
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Oh good, looks like Novell and IBM can acually get some money out of SCO now.
Victory or awesome!
"The Big Guys Work For The Carlyle Group
What exactly does it do?
To find out, we peeked down the rabbit hole.
FORTUNE Monday, March 18, 2002
The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C., buyout firm, is one of the nation's largest defense contractors. It has billions of dollars at its disposal and employs a few important people. Maybe you've heard of them: former Secretary of State Jim Baker, former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, and former White House budget director Dick Darman. Wait, we're just getting warmed up. William Kennard, who recently headed the FCC, and Arthur Levitt, who just left the SEC, also work for Carlyle. As do former British Prime Minister John Major and former Philippines President Fidel Ramos. Let's see, are we forgetting anyone? Oh, right, former President George Herbert Walker Bush is on the payroll too..."
http://www.carlylegroup.net/thebigguys.htm
So now the Bushes are going to send Jim Baker to court to steal Linux.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080214125705140
Can't believe they forgot the Groklaw link!
Its like some really bad slasher flick where the bad guy just..... won't.... fucking.... die...., and the audience gets tired of all the inventive ways in which they are bought back to life....
After a nuclear holocost the only thing left will be cockroaches, twinkies and SCO. If you chop off the heads of SCO lawyers they continue to live for a week. Just when you think they're dead those tiny little litigating arms start moving again.
He'll just roundhouse kick them until they sue themselves.
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
Hire your brother (Kevin McBride) as a lawer and pay him a pile of legal fees (thereby getting the money out of the sinking ship and back onto dry land, but out of reach of the investors).
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I don't know. I was talking to someone whose spouse still worked there. We mentioned the lawsuit (peripherally, not really wanting to bring it up since I figured it would be a sore subject).
They started talking about how IBM and Novel stole a whole bunch of their Intellectual Property and put it into Linux, and how Linux is nothing but a bunch a thieves.
I just sat there biting my tongue and changed the subject quickly, but it was really odd talking to someone "on the other side of the fence" who was a developer, and not in management.
SCO is proposing to go private.
Right now they can't buy paperclips without Judge Gross's permission (ok, I'm exaggerating, but only a little).
The US Trustee, Novell and IBM are all going to over the plan with a fine-tooth comb and the judge isn't going to approve it just on SCO's say-so. This could be like the York deal that SCO tried to push though last year, all smoke and mirrors.
So don't go getting your shorts in a bunch just yet.
And you can't do a deal like this without authorization from the Bankruptcy Court. This will probably all be part of a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization the details of which have yet to be filed by SCO. The devil is in the details with these things and you can be sure SCO will be out to screw all general unsecured creditors; that's pretty much par for the course in all Chapter 11 plans. Also, expect a lot of Bankruptcy Court litigation over the status of Novell's claim, i.e. SCO will attempt to lump them in with the other general unsecured creditors and Novell will assert its trust theory. At any rate the post petition funding here will not be available to SCO's pre-petition creditors, including Novell. All those claims are dealt with in the CH 11 Plan and are discharged by the approval of the Plan.
maybe they want a tax credit for donating to a non-profit organization
How many companies exist that would invest in a company that has no actual customers, already in chapter 11, and stuck in drawn-out legal proceedings that it almost certainly won't win? Microsoft has already undeniably helped SCO before, and they do have enough money to throw around that $100 million isn't too much to spend on a longshot.
So even if there's not direct evidence, there's also a very short list of people with $100 million sitting around who would want to invest in SCO. If it's not Microsoft, then I'd like to know who, because I've got a Perpetual Motion Machine for them to invest in next.
Not a typewriter