LINDEN RESEARCH, INC. TO BE ACQUIRED

[ItHadToComeToThis 1,018]

I wonder if Phillip Rosendale gets anything out of this. As much as we just saw his interview it didn’t really answer the one question I wanted to know. Which is, as a founder of LL what involvement does he still have with the company. Is he a share holder, classed as an investor, will he benefit from this sale etc etc. Or is he literally 100 % out of the company.

[Bagnu 2,480]

22 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

This gives us a little insight on the possibility of expanding Tilia as a virtual currency solution for many types of games.

https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/21/uplandme-blockchain-game-will-use-linden-labs-tilia-for-virtual-property-transactions/

If this trend continues, then they made a very wise acquisition. The biggest question is whether Tilia affects the existence of SL. I could see it continuing even if the grid is taken down. That could only happen if it becomes widespread imho.

Edited August 9, 2020 by Bagnu

[Bree Giffen 2,751]

22 minutes ago, Bagnu said:

If this trend continues, then they made a very wise acquisition. The biggest question is whether Tilia affects the existence of SL. I could see it continuing even if the grid is taken down. That could only happen if it becomes widespread imho.

SL itself is the proof of viability and a major, if not the only, selling point for Tilia. All LL would have to say is that Tilia has been developed and tested for Second Life which has millions of dollars in real world to game currency transactions.

[Bagnu 2,480]

2 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

SL itself is the proof of viability and a major, if not the only, selling point for Tilia. All LL would have to say is that Tilia has been developed and tested for Second Life which has millions of dollars in real world to game currency transactions.

It could eventually become detached, but not anytime soon i don't think. This seems to be a good thing for SL at this point.

[Wallace Wirefly 27]

Here is actually what brought about this acquisition: 

https://inews.co.uk/news/business/spac-hack-power-struggle-silicon-valley-wall-street-569880

[Bagnu 2,480]

7 minutes ago, Wallace Wirefly said:

Here is actually what brought about this acquisition: 

https://inews.co.uk/news/business/spac-hack-power-struggle-silicon-valley-wall-street-569880

But Tilia is not worthless.

[animats 3,966]

It's been 90 days since the original announcement, and it hasn't happened. Did the deal fail to close?

(As a rule of thumb, about half of announced merger and acquisition transactions fail.)

[Daniel Voyager 2,291]

10 hours ago, animats said:

It's been 90 days since the original announcement, and it hasn't happened. Did the deal fail to close?

(As a rule of thumb, about half of announced merger and acquisition transactions fail.)

Latest I heard was that it will take some time due to regulatory process. We might not hear anything for months maybe not until next year. 

[Burper Tilling 41]

The big merger between car makers Peugeot and Fiat-Chrysler was announced a year ago and won't be completed until next spring. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Burper Tilling

[Nick0678 2,181]

It will take some time to finish the procedure, don't worry about it.

In case you don't know what Buyout/LBO is:

 

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Nick0678

[Coffee Pancake 5,234]

If this is a confirmed LBO. That would be bad.

Someone takes out a stupid big loan, buys LL with it, signs the debt over to LL, and if they can carry it and make a profit, flip the whole mess in a few years for mega profits ... with little risk to investor if it all fails.

The risk to the target company is high. Likely be layoffs and huge efforts to streamline & profit take so it can remain profitable, pay everyone and service it's new debt.

Notable casualties include Radio Shack, Payless Shoes, Toys R Us, Sears, K-Mart and much of the US's independent / print media. While it's very fair to say none of these companies were doing well for years before they finally tanked, it's also fair to say the operating conditions imposed by their respective LBO's had a lot to do with making them uncompetitive.

Software companies tend to get bought out before they crash though the floor. If we see any named tech companies sniffing around in a couple of years, it's almost guaranteed to be game over.

 

We will likely know how it's going to pan out once this completes and management direction becomes clear.

Success depends on restructuring LL, returning us to the days of a smaller more nimble R&D focused company able to advance the platform and create growth. The SL platform needs a 2.0 reboot, not incremental change, not be afraid to break old content & create new systems that enable us to build everything back bigger, better and faster.

If anyone has bright ideas about using SL as a pandemic friendly, business to business, virtual commuter platform / avatar zoom .. then we're back in blunder land.

</chicken little>

Edited October 10, 2020 by CoffeeDujour

[FairreLilette 3,659]

12 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

If this is a confirmed LBO. That would be bad.

Someone takes out a stupid big loan, buys LL with it, signs the debt over to LL, and if they can carry it and make a profit, flip the whole mess in a few years for mega profits ... with little risk to investor if it all fails.

The risk to the target company is high. Likely be layoffs and huge efforts to streamline & profit take so it can remain profitable, pay everyone and service it's new debt.

Notable casualties include Radio Shack, Payless Shoes, Toys R Us, Sears, K-Mart and much of the US's independent / print media. While it's very fair to say none of these companies were doing well for years before they finally tanked, it's also fair to say the operating conditions imposed by their respective LBO's had a lot to do with making them uncompetitive.

Software companies tend to get bought out before they crash though the floor. If we see any named tech companies sniffing around in a couple of years, it's almost guaranteed to be game over.

 

We will likely know how it's going to pan out once this completes and management direction becomes clear.

Success depends on restructuring LL, returning us to the days of a smaller more nimble R&D focused company able to advance the platform and create growth. The SL platform needs a 2.0 reboot, not incremental change, not be afraid to break old content & create new systems that enable us to build everything back bigger, better and faster.

If anyone has bright ideas about using SL as a pandemic friendly, business to business, virtual commuter platform / avatar zoom .. then we're back in blunder land.

</chicken little>

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

But, there is TILIA too.  'What if' Tilia can replace Paypal here and receive the fees instead of Paypal?  That could be excellent and tremendous profit.  

[Coffee Pancake 5,234]

3 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

But, there is TILIA too.  'What if' Tilia can replace Paypal here and receive the fees instead of Paypal?  That could be excellent and tremendous profit.  

Putting Paypal and Tilia in the same sentence is ludicrous. That's like comparing your kids lemonade stand to coco-cola.

Oh .. and it's raining out, your kid's sopping wet and miserable, you live 300 miles away from anyone, already bought 2 cups of mostly rainwater yourself and suspect this whole fiasco is just a ploy to guilt trip a bigger allowance.

[FairreLilette 3,659]

8 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

Putting Paypal and Tilia in the same sentence is ludicrous. That's like comparing your kids lemonade stand to coco-cola.

Yes, I know.  Paypal has "the trust".  But, I pioneered Paypal, being an Ebay seller starting in the 1990's.   We were scared of Paypal then when it began because it was "new".  I was a little scared to start with Paypal but prior to Paypal all we had were money orders and checks and checks took 14 days to clear before any shipping could even occur.  So, Paypal was invented but scary at the time.

EDIT:  Also, I've read that the coding for Tilia is considered stellar...I thought that's one of the main things the investor's are interested in - Tilia and "taking it somewhere".  

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Nick0678 2,181]

1 hour ago, CoffeeDujour said:

If this is a confirmed LBO.

That  has been known for months, it isn't recent news.

[Theresa Tennyson 4,660]

7 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

In case you don't know what Buyout/LBO is:

In case you don't know what a '/' means in a sentence:

https://www.dictionary.com/e/slash/

If it definitely is a leveraged buyout, why would it be written that way? The way it's written suggests a buyout that may or may not be leveraged, and you have no way of knowing whether it is or not.

[Nick0678 2,181]

13 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

In case you don't know what a '/' means in a sentence:

https://www.dictionary.com/e/slash/

If it definitely is a leveraged buyout, why would it be written that way? The way it's written suggests a buyout that may or may not be leveraged, and you have no way of knowing whether it is or not.

 

I see.. well i guess you never used Pitchbook before otherwise you would know why it's written that way.

Feel free to join all you need is a Corporate e-mail and a subscription.

Take care.

[KT Kingsley 687]

26 minutes ago, Nick0678 said:

 

I see.. well i guess you never used Pitchbook before otherwise you would know why it's written that way.

Feel free to join all you need is a Corporate e-mail and a subscription.

Take care.

So I need to subscribe to Pitchbook in order to understand English grammar?

[Charlotte Bartlett 438]

2 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

That  has been known for months, it isn't recent news.

 

You shouldn't be pasting screenshots from PitchBook (even if just a sample/public data part).  
They tend to frown on that per their Limitations of Use... just a friendly note!

 

[Nick0678 2,181]

3 minutes ago, Charlotte Bartlett said:

You shouldn't be pasting screenshots from PitchBook (even if just a sample/public data part).  
They tend to frown on that per their Limitations of Use... just a friendly note!

 

Thank you for the warning, i appreciate it.

(Now i 'll have to contact my lawyer. Hope he is not flirting with his secretary and ruin it for him.)

------------------------

Sorry guys but as you can see you will have to register to Pitchbook if you want to learn more or talk about whatever troubles you, english grammar, terms used or whatever or contact a market analyst to learn more. Take care, all.

 

[Kimmi Zehetbauer 1,255]

<-- Takes a pitchfork to Pitchfork! 🤣

Edited October 10, 2020 by Kimmi Zehetbauer
Cause AARP made me do it...

[animats 3,966]

4 hours ago, CoffeeDujour said:

Success depends on restructuring LL, returning us to the days of a smaller more nimble R&D focused company able to advance the platform and create growth. The SL platform needs a 2.0 reboot, not incremental change, not be afraid to break old content & create new systems that enable us to build everything back bigger, better and faster.

Ebbe Altberg's interview says Sansar was supposed to be the "more nimble R&D company":

With Sansar off its books, Linden Lab is now "a very profitable company," according to Altberg. "Second Life is an older, very established cash machine that works really well, and right now, we're seeing some tremendous growth happening as we speak. Whereas Sansar is a VC, more long term, need-more-investment-type-of-thing. Mixing those two within one small studio like Linden Lab was kind of tricky, so it was easier to have them go separate."

The spinoff of Sansar did nothing for user counts.  Still stuck around 20. Not 20,000, twenty.  Steamcharts: 18 users playing now,  24-hour peak user count was 26, all-time peak user count was 221 in September 2019.

There's been zero indication in the last year of any plans to advance SL much. "Cloud uplift" is a cost-saving measure. Altberg has said what the plan is - run the "older, very established cash machine".

Meanwhile, we still don't know how the acquisition is going. The longer an M&A transaction drags on, the less likely it is to close.

[Theresa Tennyson 4,660]

3 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

 

I see.. well i guess you never used Pitchbook before otherwise you would know why it's written that way.

Feel free to join all you need is a Corporate e-mail and a subscription.

Take care.

How does this answer my question? And how does it indicate whether or not you know if this buyout is actually leveraged?

[Maryanne Solo 1,840]

Wow this thread has done the rounds!
It's still going and no doubt will go on for ages yet.

In all seriousness...... I ask you....  🤔
*Could this thread become SL's first case of NecroTilia? 😵

[Coffee Pancake 5,234]

We have passed the 4 month mark.

Happy uncertainty everyone !