The ownership SUSE is getting transferred from UK-based Micro Focus International to Sweden’s investment firm EQT VIII. The deal, which is yet to be completed, has been finalized for $2.535 billion.
Many of us know SUSE as the power behind the open source Linux distribution openSUSE. But the 25-year-old company’s operations are largely inclined towards the enterprise sector from where it can make money. Apart from the operating systems, the company has also spread its legs into the cloud sector.
SUSE has around 1400 employees across the globe, and last year it recorded $320 million in sales in the 12 months that ended on October 31, 2017. It was founded by a group of college students in the year 1992 and since then it has witnessed a series of acquisitions.
The company was first acquired by Novell in 2003. In 2010, Novell itself was bought by The Attachmate which then later merged into Micro Focus International.
The acquisition is expected to complete by early 2019 with Nils Brauckmann continuing his job of the CEO. In the announcements, the SUSE team has assured that latest development won’t let them deviate from their commitment for building open source software. They’re viewing the buyout as a positive thing for the development of their open source products.
