> Don't confuse buying their stock with furthering their cause. Once the >shares of LinuxCare are sold to the large brokerage houses through the >IPO process, the amount of money that LinuxCare receives is fixed. >Sure, if the shareprice rises, it means profits for the original shareholders >but the company doesn't have more money to pour back into into Linux >development (except if they use their company stock as capital to make >additional investments. i.e. AOL buying Netscape).
An increasing stockprice benefits the company beyond the initial IPO. Keep in mind a company like LinuxCare will only sell a portion of their stock. They hold onto a bunch and sell that later (after they burn through the original chunk). As you go on to point out, they don't have any profit and probably won't have any for awhile. So how do you suppose they pay salaries and other expenses?
>Linux activism can only go so far.
I disagree. Buying VA, RH or LinuxCare stock drives up the price and definitely helps those companies. A year or so after the IPO a company like LinuxCare will sell maybe a million shares. If the going price is $10, they get to put $10M in the bank. But if the going price is $20, then they have twice as much money to work with. That has an impact on how free they are with their money in supporting Open Source projects or hiring hackers to work on stuff full time.
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>shares of LinuxCare are sold to the large brokerage houses through the
>IPO process, the amount of money that LinuxCare receives is fixed.
>Sure, if the shareprice rises, it means profits for the original shareholders
>but the company doesn't have more money to pour back into into Linux
>development (except if they use their company stock as capital to make
>additional investments. i.e. AOL buying Netscape).
An increasing stockprice benefits the company beyond the initial IPO. Keep in mind a company like LinuxCare will only sell a portion of their stock. They hold onto a bunch and sell that later (after they burn through the original chunk). As you go on to point out, they don't have any profit and probably won't have any for awhile. So how do you suppose they pay salaries and other expenses?
>Linux activism can only go so far.
I disagree. Buying VA, RH or LinuxCare stock drives up the price and definitely helps those companies. A year or so after the IPO a company like LinuxCare will sell maybe a million shares. If the going price is $10, they get to put $10M in the bank. But if the going price is $20, then they have twice as much money to work with. That has an impact on how free they are with their money in supporting Open Source projects or hiring hackers to work on stuff full time.
-- Dave