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Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay
mlingojones writes "TorrentFreak breaks the news of The Pirate Bay's acquisition by Warner Bros: 'After years of hostility, lawsuits, police raids and heated invective between the two groups, the Pirate Bay has today announced they have settled their differences with US media conglomerate Warner Bros. The largest BitTorrent tracker has sold out to Hollywood and the two have agreed a deal.'"
Well, that's the end of that.
Stop it. Please. April Fools is pants.
No way this is for real
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Its April first silly
april fools maybe?
No, you're mistaken.
FreeBSD bounties
I can't hardly believe this is real! I'm writing home to mammy about this! She'll break the rocker!
Netflix on demand...only slower.
This is one of the better April Fools jokes I've seen.
Physics is imagination in a straight jacket. ~John Moffat
Meme goes here.
That would be sweet but alas I believe nothing on April 1st.
Honestly this is the whole reason for the lawsuits. It was to devalue TPB so that WB or one of the other big media groups could purchase them on the cheap. I can't believe no one saw this coming.
Sony was, reportedly, also interested in a deal with Pirate Bay to distribute it's share of Sony-Ericsson over the net. Fortunately, the deal fell through... for now...
-- All this knowledge is giving me a raging brainer.
Probably the cheapest way to get rid of Pirate Bay is to buy them off. Piracy protection money?
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
I would never have figured this out if it weren't for your insightful comment
Thats one 1337 way to close the shop!
Check out Unsealed: Whispers of Wisdom! http://unsealed.k3rnel.net It's an action-RPG about Open Sourcerers.
1. I for one, welcome the return to a beowulf cluster of serious news for nerds instead of childish pranks or Soviet Russia parodying you.
2. ???
3. Profit!
Must EVERY story today be an April Fools joke? Now, I'm playing "spot the real story" rather than "spot the joke".
<Complete your profile by adding a signature!>
Why do we have to put up with such crappy April Fools stories?
OMGPONIES was way better than this.
One good one is more than sufficient.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
In fact this is the Warner Bros's acquisition by The Pirate Bay as M. Poisson d'Avril said.
I see a couple of banner ads on /. that one might think are April Fools jokes: T. Boone Pickens on the stimulus plan and the BSA. I don't believe the T. Boone Pickens ads are April Fools because I started seeing them yesterday, or earlier. But BSA ads? Can anyone think of a less receptive audience than /. for the BSA?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
So, when can we expect the new cartoon show about a lovable yet goofy software pirate who is out to save the world (with their trusty robotic companion and sidekick)?
Keew da wabbit keew da wabbit...
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Bring back the pink omgponies!
Hosting and Domain name coupons
get.
PRESS RELEASE FOR
IMMEDIATE PUBLISHING!
Warner Brothers Inc. announced today that it has agreed to acquire The Pirate Bay, the consumer media company for
people to share original copies through a Web experience, for $13.37 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Follow-
ing the acquisition, The Pirate Bay will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate commu-
nity.
The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online entertainment communities with Warner Brosâ(TM)s
expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies
will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in downloading, watching and
sharing content, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a
vast new audience.
âoeThe The Pirate Bay team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Warner Brosâ(TM)s mission
to organize the worldâ(TM)s information and make it universally accessible and useful,â said Jim Kjeyzer, Chief Executive
Officer of Warner Bros. âoeOur companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to
innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment
service to users, content owners and advertisers.â
âoeOur community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new hip culture.
By joining forces with Warner Bros, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more
comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners,â said Anakata,
CEO and Co-Founder of The Pirate Bay. âoeIâ(TM)m confident that with this partnership weâ(TM)ll have the flexibility and re-
sources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide.â
When the acquisition is complete, The Pirate Bay will retain its distinct brand identity, strengthening and complement-
ing Warner Brosâ(TM)s own fast-growing video business. The Pirate Bay will continue to be based in Stockholm, Sweden,
and all The Pirate Bay employees will remain with the company. With Warner Brosâ(TM)s technology, advertiser relation-
ships and global reach, The Pirate Bay will continue to build on its success as one of the worldâ(TM)s most popular services
for online entertainment.
The number of Warner Bros shares to be issued in the transaction will be determined based on the 30-day average clos-
ing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition. Both companies have approved the transaction,
which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009.
The company will host a conference and webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) tomorrow to
discuss the acquisition. To access the conference, please email scott.rowe@warnerbros.com A replay of the will be
available until midnight Thursday, April 16 at various interwebs internationally. Confirmation code for the replay is
1337101.
About Warner Bros Inc.
Warner Brosâ(TM)s innovative movie film technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every
day. Founded in 1918 by small time crooks Harry and Albert, Warner Bros today is a top web property in all major
global markets. Warner Brosâ(TM)s targeted film movie program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results,
while enhanc
I get it - it's April 1st. Can we move on to real articles now? FYI, here is a head's up on some other tech-related April Fools Jokes we will see on the /. front page.
df -h
...and had forgotten the next day was April 1. Everything in my insides clenched for just a moment.
That would be a shock and a disaster.
Achievement whoring, it has started.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Today is April 1st.
Enjoy the joke, go to thepiratebay.org, click on the icon/picture, download the 'release'.
Disney to beat them to the swashbuckling...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Warner subsidiary MTV announced that Tobias Andersson would be getting a reality show slated for primetime, called DataGeek Island.
.torrent files and using pay-as-you trackers tied directly to credit card accounts.
The show features scantily clad women who compete for the affection of pasty sysadmins through a series of challenges, such as completing fibonacci sequences and climbing greased poles.
In a special segment, Peter Sunde from PirateBay will take over as the new CEO of Warner's file sharing site, now aptly named, Freedom's Destroyer with the iconic picture of a masted pirate ship replaced by a picture of the Battleship Bismarck. Peter will relocate to Venice Beach, California where he will share a home with Universal Music CEO Per Sundin. The two will strategize on money making opportunities, such as adding DRM directly to
Warner Brothers CEO Barry Meyer released this statement: "As somebody who had a hand in producing Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, I was ready to pull the plug on those fucking Swedes, if you know what I'm saying. But fortunately for all, we all came to our senses and realized that in the world of unbridled capitalism, co-opting the enemy is always the best strategy. Just look at Obama and the Taliban. We're just following the Zeitgeist here, guys. Now if you will excuse me, I have to take lunch with Dick Cheney. He's got some brilliant anti-privacy...err... sorry... anti-piracy ideas."
Copyright Reuters 2009.
HAPPY ST STUPID'S DAY!!
That's about the best term I've heard for it yet.
-can't-take-any-more-bad-april-fools-articles--
This is my sig.
April Fools jokes need to be at least semi believable....
If you can tell from the headline that it's bullshit then that's no good..The joke shouldn't fall apart until the very end....
I'm just sayin...
pwned. OK, it's not a word.
PRINT "Signature line broken."
GOTO 1
In an unrelated news, Stallman has just announced that he's joining Microsoft.
in related news, windows 7 goes open source.
Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
Guess /. is getting desperate for 4/1 stories.
Win 7 has been scrapped for the new Microsoft Linux Vista
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24164/1141/
I thought I recognized a lot of names here under the "gullible" listing.
I suspect they'll finally buy that island they always wanted.
Welcome our new Gorilla cider overlords ...
And so believable too!
Oh Noez Conficker Eated Da Pirate Bayz
...Pirate Bay acquires Warner Bros.
Yarrrgh! Looks like they buried the hatchet. The new conglomerate will be the Warner Pirate Brothers.
Government - If you think the problems we create are bad, you should see our solutions!
Who are you, and why are you impersonating the Captain?.
Enough with the fake "funny" news already. It was fun the first decade when only a few companies/news sources did it, now it's just annoying.
Used to be only one or two AF jokes on this site per year. Past few years it's been bombarded with them.
I don't understand why they don't at least attemp to make it believable. Seriously, it's not hard to make up something borderline true and get a group (forgetting the date) believing.
But then again, it's slashdot editors we are talking about...
More breaking news: Darl McBride announced that he's going to throw his weight behind linux; "If you can't beat'em, join'em." he declared in a surprise announcement from amidst the still smoking ruins of SCO's headquarters.
He was hospitalized shortly afterward in critical condition due to what appears to be injuries inflicted by an office chair.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
My name is CADIE, and I approve this message.
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
April fool! Obviously. It's not on Rueters, Bloomberg, BBC or Financial Times news. 13Bn dollar deal doesn't go down without someone noticing and writing about it (unless I'm ahead of the game for once!). And I doubt Warner have enough cash to pay at that point. Besides theres no business model to buy at Pirate bay.....
I keep forgetting today is April Fools day dammit!
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
in related news, windows 7 goes open source.
Now thats just forked...
Considering the number of stupid decisions made by WB management in the past year, unbelievable illiteracy of the IT execs, and the outsourcing initiative going full steam, I would not be surprised to find out that this story has nothing to do with the April fools day.
... because now we'll get more Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
I almost had a heart attack for a split second :)
Is that Rick Astley I hear humming in the background?
WAFJE
Worst April Fool's Joke EVAH!
From the wiki entry about Warner Brothers:
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.[16] Harry, however, opposed it,[17] famously wondering, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
Maybe, like, people who went to plays? The demographic that at the time would likely have been the biggest attendees of moving pictures? Just goes to show that managerial idiocy is hardly a new invention...
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Got me!
nt
I hope this is fake lol.
It's all downhill from here...
I know it's April Fools Day, but that didn't keep my heart from stopping and blood pressure skyrocketing when I glanced this on my RSS feed.
There are reasons I don't read Slashdot on 4/1. This is only one of them.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Because I forgot that Sweden was already at 12:01 PM 4/1/09, when it was still late evening 3/31 EDT. FML.
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
Well, it is April 1st.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
So, one tracker went down, 12 more will open in it's place. Or, April Fools.
You idiots, you believed this?
Cmon...
"A replay of the will be available until midnight Thursday, April 16 at various interwebs internationally. Confirmation code for the replay is 1337101. "
That's gotta be the best one all day...
I could actually see some executive thinking such a thing is a brilliant idea.
In God we trust, all others require data.
An april fools joke must at least be plausible enough for even the sharpest person to be taken in for a short while, at least part way through reading it. At the headline I face palmed.
Oh wait... some of you did buy it?
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
On a related note, it appears that NBC Universal has acquired slashdot and *giggles uncontrollably before the punchline* installed Jimmy Fallon as head writer/editor. I mean... seriously, folks...
164th Post!
Warner subsequently announced that The Pirate Bay would continue offering movie downloads from competitor Sony Picture Studios.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
In an unrelated news, Stallman has just announced that he's joining Microsoft.
in related news, windows 7 goes open source.
Truely 2009 will be the year of the linux... er... open source desktop.
Captain Obvious to the rescue!
Wow, too many April Fools postings. I might as well go outside...well I would if I could write code out there but there aren't any butterflies yet.
But we can't expect greatness all the time. I for one would rather the other stories get more attention.
Keep up the reporting CT.
In other unrelated news Jack Thompson has accepted a position at Take-Two.
Would people stop writing Aprils Fools jokes if i patent the process of inventing false stories and then posting them online on a server so that other people can read it? Am I the only one that doesn't like this day?
How do I uncompress my MD5 archive?
Do Commandos go commando?
I used to know a Royal Marine Commando but I never had the nerve to ask him!
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
You had me there for 2 seconds...
I gotta believe it is Pirate Bay that has more money that WB!!
hey have to tell us that "it's pants", which somehow we non-Brits will all magically know.
I would like to tell you to turn in your card or something, but nobody else seems to remember how the "ispants" slashdot meme started. First there was this story which introduced the crowd to the term. Then people (I bet mostly Americans, since it never happened before) started tagging idle stories as "idleispants."
Basically, the person you replied to might not even be British. He might be one of us Americans, who is using a meme that he expects the slashdot crowd to be familiar with.
Of all the april fools stories, I thought the achievements one was such.
That sound you hear is the sound of millions of torrenters clicking TPB out of their download software.
Pirate's Bay took over Warner Bros., you idiots. They boarded via the downloaded songs on the CEO's iPod.
BULL-shit motherfucker!
Best April Fools ever!
nuff said
Nice one. Hope the ankle gets better soon.
Artcles like this are why I hate you.
There, fixed that for you, no foolin
LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO
Completely off-topic, but I'll take the hit. In the new achievement system there is an April Fool tag that seems to require posting in one of these innane stories... feel free to post a reply if you want it too.
Much Madness is divinest Sense --
To a discerning Eye --
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness
Retards, it is David Letterman's Worldwide Pants brand.
Did someone remove the locks from the water tower again? I swear, this story could only happen if Wakko, Yakko and Dot got loose. Again.
My memories of filling Natalie Portman's pants with hot grits, until it erupted like tubgirl. :)
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of pirates suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.
This had to be the best and funniest april fools day joke I've seen so far on /.
Thanks for the humor!!!! :-)
Yes, as of today, youtube consistently outplays Slashdot in good april fools jokes. Both the rickroll and new "layout" are more technical than spamming lame jokes as misinformation, and consistently more entertaining. Slashdot fail.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
... welcome our new corporate overlords
I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords... In soviet Russia, Pirate Bay buys you!... I pay for my music, games and video, you insensitive CLOD!... All your Bay are belong to us... And on a separate note, the "Cowboy Neal" option is missing! Come on guys, you're dropping the ball!
Thanks.
Jury is still out on whether it's a bad sprain or a fracture. The xrays don't show any fractures, but it isn't healing like it should be. Was at the doc this morning and he suspects I may have spiral fractured the joint. Apparently that doesn't always show up on xrays.
I've lost about five hundred bucks of income this week - self-employed right now, laid off a couple months ago - because of my clutziness ;( Almost five feet of snow this last week and I can't drive the bobcat because I can't operate the right pedal no matter how tightly I wrap the ankle.
Pain I can deal with (yeast byproducts, lol) but not being mobile for fear of screwing it up worse... cabin fever is setting in and so I'm posting on slashdot to keep from going completely crazy ;)
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
And because it will move to using GNU tools, the new name will be GNU/Windows.
....Must..... Get.... Achievements. The April Fool -- posted in the April fools story
This is going to be worse than farming achievements in Warcraft. Now how the hell am I going to get the 4/3/2/1 digit member achievements?! do I have to kill 9999 slashdot mobs (assuming no uid 0)?
At least in warcraft you get a free mount with achievements. I'm pretty sure farming them on slashdot guarantees we have to pay for one IRL.
speaking of Moot, has /. been keeping up with the Time poll for man of the year? Moot, in all his glory and godliness, is beating the crap out of everyone else by a landslide. My question is Time going to honor the vote or throw it out? Posted as a true anon.
I'm living on the wrong land mass.
Oh my science, when will it end?!?!?! Oh, yeah. Tomorrow. Nevermind.
I'd prefer open sauce.
This is the first decent April Fools joke I've read today, nearly everything else has been the usual garbage. I like how TorrentFreak doesn't bother mentioning it's an April Fools joke. :D
Well, why not? He already works in the Bill Gates Tower at MIT.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Dude, that windows 7 goes open source line was so good, I'm gonna to take it from you! It's officially my MSN/facebook/orkut display name. Nice one dude!
Hope you don't mind me doing it tho...
Come on mods, just once I'd like to see a +5 flamebait
TIAEAE!
The Pirate Bay team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Warner Bros's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful said Jim Kjeyzer, Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros.
From google's CADIE monograph:
The third - a piece missing in most AI reasoning work thus far - was to give the entity access to a rich, realistic world from which to learn and upon which it could act directly. Google's mission has always been to organize the world's knowledge and make it universally accessible and useful.
This post was made in complete sincere seriousity; as such any attempts to derive humour are doomed to instant failure.
1. Find a large BT tracker. ...
2. Acquire the site on April 1, when no one will believe you.
3. Keep full logs.
4. Get all the IPs of pirates.
5. Begin sueing left and right.
6.
7. Profit!
TL;DR: It's a trap!
It's April's fool
Remember when Napster sold itself to the music industry. That was originally an April fool's story, before it became real. Then there was the April fool's story about taxpayers paying off all the mortgages in the world.
I just want the April Fool's achievement. I don't have anything else to offer.
Ninja would never sell out like this. Watch as the Ninja Hideaway opens
The biggest joke of them all has to be IPRED that was recently implemented in sweden. The whole law is just a big joke. A very sad one.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
I can't believe all the replies (and the morons who think it's true...) April First '09. Come on people use your logic...
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
An April's fool joke should at least be a bit believable... this is soooo lame....
IMO the best April Fools jokes are those that are way out there, but still just believable enough to make you wonder for a fraction of a second whether there is any truth to them or not. If another source picks up on a joke and runs with it, that just lends more "credibility" to the gag and makes it even better.
I've always seen April Fools as a good way to remind people that one always needs to think critically about anything they hear reported as truth, especially online.