The Open-Source rich list

Posted on 3 Sep 2008 at 12:26

Here are some of the leading open-source earners, with details of how much they're worth:

Mozilla Corporation
$1.5 to $4 billion - according to Wall Street analysts
Makes its money from: lucrative homepage and search bar deal with Google, accounting for 85% of its $66.8 million 2006 revenue. That contract expires this year, which could prompt a bidding war.

Red Hat
$3.83 billion - the company's market cap as of July
Makes its money from: providing support, training and integration to companies running its Enterprise Linux software and other middleware and applications. Became a member of NASDAQ 100 in 2005.

MySQL AB
$1billion - the sum Sun paid for the company in January
Makes its money from: selling proprietary versions of the database software it also gives away under the GPL licence, to companies who won't work under GPL conditions. Also offers support and consultancy.

Zimbra
$375million - the price Yahoo paid for the company in 2007
Makes money from: selling Ajax, browser-based email and calendaring software to businesses for as much as $35 per user per year, with up to 50% discounts for education and non-profit organisations.

Has Open-Source sold out?

Author: Jack Schofield