IBM announced today that it will acquire open-source software company Red Hat, best known for their Linux operating system, in a $34 billion stock deal, pricing the latter’s shares at $190, a 63% premium above their closing price Friday. According to IBM chief executive Ginni Rometty, the acquisition would make IBM the world’s top hybrid cloud provider, or the use a mix of on-site, private and third-party public cloud services. Red Hat’s headquarters will remain in Raleigh, where the company currently has more than 2,000 employees. Continue reading for another video and more information.
“It also expects to use Red Hat’s open source roots to its advantage — in theory, this encourages companies to move to the cloud when they’d otherwise be wary of being locked in. And yes, both companies are aware of the impact this will have on Linux and open source at large. The two are ‘committed’ to open source, including contributions to the community,” reports Engadget.
