Is Linode likely to be acquired by EIG in the future?

Umm, no? Caker has shown little interest in selling the company (which is private, and can only be bought if it desires to be), and even if he wanted to, why would that one random company be a prime candidate? Linode is nothing like any of that company's existing holdings.

While Linode isn't small by any means, EIG has acquired fairly large and well-known hosting providers, as I've mentioned above. What makes Linode different than the EIG providers? EIG seems to force their subsidiaries to stay silent about the acquisition. When EIG acquires a company, it lets things stand for a year or so, then starts migrating servers to lower-quality, higher-density hosts and datacenters and lays off employees. The result is that performance and reliability degrades and customer support becomes poor–yet there is no indication that the acquisition even happened in the first place.

My main concern lies in whether Caker will be seduced into selling off Linode to EIG. I doubt he's going to allow it, but the possibility is very real nonetheless. I'm pretty sure he's going to let the community know about it if he gets a bid from EIG.

--DragonLord

Troll.

-Chris

How is this trolling? I apologize if this is the case; it is not my intent to troll.

–DragonLord

If a sale is on the horizon, you as a customer wouldn't hear any of it in advance, during or even after. This is especially given that Linode is an unlisted company and is not big enough to bring up any mention of anti-trust or anti-competitive law. Sales of private businesses are usually accompanied with NDAs that disallow any public discussion.

Also, I don't think caker is easy to seduce.

Out of curiosity: why are acquisitions of private companies held under NDA?

–DragonLord

So that you don't discover the secret truth: all tech companies are owned by .

• Les

@fierydragonlord:

Out of curiosity: why are acquisitions of private companies held under NDA?

There are many reasons why buyers or sellers insist that an NDA be signed. It could be to prevent a run of customers, prevent competitors from picking up on a strategy too early and implementing something to counter it, prevent another bidder from appearing with a higher price, etc.

Well, I am not familiar with the M&A process, so sorry if my previous post shows apparent ignorance.

–DragonLord

To expand on the OP's original question - is there any possibility that in the near future, donuts will be made square instead of round? I like round donuts but I'm not sure the square corners would be any good, so I'm hoping the answer is no.

Any Linode staff willing to confirm or deny that possibility?

//my magic 8 ball said future cloudy try again - I'm not sure if that's a yes or a no//

I think I've realized my mistake here. This is too speculative a topic to discuss constructively. Besides, consensus on this topic is that such an acquisition is unlikely to happen in the near future. It may be best to close this thread.

–DragonLord

@fierydragonlord:

This is too speculative a topic to discuss constructively.

Generalizing here. It's a valid question for every business to ask of their suppliers, as it has the potential to affect one's business. Unfortunately (IMHO) this is mostly uncontrollable risk. It's a risk that you can mitigate, however. The only real way I can think of is to add some grandfatherable clauses, which could include things like continuing to maintain a minimum level of service, delivery, cost, etc, or making it so you can quickly change suppliers.

Specifically in the case of Linode: Well, you should probably trust Linode's board and shareholders to have your best interests at heart.

@vonskippy:

To expand on the OP's original question - is there any possibility that in the near future, donuts will be made square instead of round? I like round donuts but I'm not sure the square corners would be any good, so I'm hoping the answer is no.

Any Linode staff willing to confirm or deny that possibility?

//my magic 8 ball said future cloudy try again - I'm not sure if that's a yes or a no//

Oh please, these "square donuts" rumors have been flying around for years. Read my lips (once they're done eating this round donut): there will be no square donuts (square donuts will never fit over round unicorn horns).

Actually, square donuts will be our next service offering. We hope that these Linuts will give us a competitive edge in the donut market.

@Perihelion:

Actually, square donuts will be our next service offering. We hope that these Linuts will give us a competitive edge in the donut market.
D'oh!

OK, fine … but I'd like to see how you're going to make these Linuts compatible with Longview.

I see that someone else may have beaten you to market: http://www.squaredonuts.com

edit: added square donut link.

I'm a fan of custard filling.

Mmmm… gggg… sweet custard.

I think this thread is going too far off topic here.

So the community doesn't think an acquisition is something to worry about. I would like to see this thread locked, as it doesn't seem to be fostering constructive discussion.

–DragonLord

DragonLord,

I think your question just isn't going to be taken seriously. There are so many acquisitions taking place in all industries that most people can't consider hypothetical acquisitions as part of their purchasing decisions.

• Could my internet provider ever be taken over by a larger company? Should that cause me to consider changing internet providers?

• Could the company that creates my development tools ever be taken over by a larger company? Should that cause me to consider changing vendors?

• Could the company that built my computer, and holds the manufacturer's warranty, ever be taken over by a larger company? Should that cause me to consider buying a new computer?

As you can see this can get out of hand quickly. What if I didn't limit it to technology?

• The auto-parts supplier my mechanic uses could be purchased by a larger company. Should I switch mechanics?

• What about my doctor? Will their practice be taken over by a managed healthcare company?

Also, I'm sure you can see how a brand new visitor to a company specific community forum who starts asking questions about hypothetical acquisitions could be viewed with a suspicious eye.

MSJ

@fierydragonlord:

I would like to see this thread locked
You're kind of bossy for a noob.
* First off, there's no way a mere customer has any say whether Linode gets acquired or not. And why would the Linode staff discuss any such deal until it was fait accompli?

• Second, if they were acquired, it depends on who acquires them whether it's a good thing or bad (if I was to acquire them, I'd leave them the hell alone to do their thing - I'd just stomp flat the rumours of square donuts).

• Third, if they're not acquired, there's no telling if they will remain "top shelf" or sink into the "bucket o swill" category all by themselves.

• Forth, what difference does all of that make. If you're dumb enough to base your business model on a single vendor, then you deserve what you get when that vendor borks (for whatever cause).

It was an incredibly dumb question, asked on a community forum, and I think you were lucky the thread went with sarcasm instead of out right mockery from the get go.

I am so sorry I asked such a speculative question.

While I have been participating in online forums for more than three years, I really didn't understand the scope of this question, and I apologize for making this mistake.

–DragonLord

@fierydragonlord:

Do any of you think I should be temporarily or permanently banned for this thread?

I believe this is in fact enough to have you permanently cut off from the Internet.

@fierydragonlord:

Do any of you think I should be temporarily or permanently banned for this thread?

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Seriously, can you tell me straight what I am doing wrong, without any sarcasm or humor? I didn't quite understand the last few posts (I don't handle sarcasm well :?). I know that it'll be harsh, but once again, I am very sorry for this.

I understand that I asked a speculative, non-constructive question, and will avoid doing so in the future. It is not my intent to troll or otherwise disrupt this forum.

–DragonLord

![](http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/new … 6/Okay.png">http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/082/456/Okay.png" />

Why do I deserve to be ridiculed? I've already admitted to what I did wrong!

–DragonLord

There are some participants in this thread who are ridiculing you, but they tend to be the sorts of folks who do that. They're dicks, but we all know that and they all know that we think they're dicks, so it works out OK. There are also folks who are ridiculing your ideas, which is marginally more acceptable, but still kinda dickish.

Then there are those who stay active in this thread because new stuff gets posted to it. People like me. Personally, I liked your question: it didn't involve PHP, WordPress, MySQL, e-mail, cargo-cult firewalling, or things that foxes say, and it wasn't something that could be answered with Google. But… well, you're taking things personally and that's dangerous.

There are some Class 1 smart-asses here and some Grade A troll-wranglers. We can't help ourselves: it's what we're trained to do, probably because we were bullied as kids and now we're grown up and we can bully other people with words. All you can do is move along to another thread and ignore this one until we go away. And ignore vonskippy, too. He's a dick.

@hoopycat:

There are some participants in this thread who are ridiculing you, but they tend to be the sorts of folks who do that. They're dicks, but we all know that and they all know that we think they're dicks, so it works out OK. There are also folks who are ridiculing your ideas, which is marginally more acceptable, but still kinda dickish.

Then there are those who stay active in this thread because new stuff gets posted to it. People like me. Personally, I liked your question: it didn't involve PHP, WordPress, MySQL, e-mail, cargo-cult firewalling, or things that foxes say, and it wasn't something that could be answered with Google. But… well, you're taking things personally and that's dangerous.

There are some Class 1 smart-asses here and some Grade A troll-wranglers. We can't help ourselves: it's what we're trained to do, probably because we were bullied as kids and now we're grown up and we can bully other people with words. All you can do is move along to another thread and ignore this one until we go away. And ignore vonskippy, too. He's a dick.

Finally, someone gives a sensible response. Thank you. As you've suggested, I will probably leave this thread alone and move on.

–DragonLord

@hoopycat:

And ignore vonskippy, too. He's a dick.

Had to laugh at that :)

@fierydragonlord:

Finally, someone gives a sensible response.

Don't expect it to happen often. This is the internet. You'll need a thick skin and low expectations.

Makes the sweet moments sweeter (look, I got it back to custard again!)

@Main Street James:

@Perihelion:

Actually, square donuts will be our next service offering. We hope that these Linuts will give us a competitive edge in the donut market.
D'oh!

OK, fine … but I'd like to see how you're going to make these Linuts compatible with Longview.

I see that someone else may have beaten you to market: http://www.squaredonuts.com

edit: added square donut link.

Don't even bother trying to sell this linuts to those in portlandia, they already have voodoo and them's some damned good donuts.

@hoopycat:

And ignore vonskippy, too. He's a dick.

He gave good sound advice to the guy wondering if he should switch to linode from HG reseller (who didn't want to be an admin).

OP your question is just unanswerable. Is it possible? Of course. Is it likely? Who knows. Would it suck? Of course. Would it spell the end of Linode as we know it? Probably. But it's not worth worrying about.

@caker:

Troll.

-Chris

Is not the first time I see caker answer like this when talking about his company.

I think you should relax caker and stop offending someone who is interested in talking about you or your company.

@sblantipodi:

@caker:

Troll.

-Chris

Is not the first time I see caker answer like this when talking about his company.

I think you should relax caker and stop offending someone who is interested in talking about you or your company.

It's akin to asking somebody "When did you stop beating your wife?"

I'm not sure what reply you were expecting.