Marc Fleury Exits Red Hat

Marc Fleury, the fiery, open-source software entrepreneur who launched a thriving business around providing support for open-source technology, has decided to leave JBoss, the company he founded. JBoss is a division of Red Hat.

Fleury went on paternity leave in December, following the birth of his fourth child, and said he would return to work in March. On Feb. 9, Red Hat officials said Fleury had decided not to return.

Fleury marshaled the sale of JBoss to Red Hat last spring after a flurry of speculation that Oracle might buy the open-source infrastructure stack provider.

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Red Hat announced plans to acquire JBoss for $350 million last April and completed the acquisition in June. Some say Fleury himself made as much as $150 million on the deal, although Fleury never confirmed that.

In November, in an interview with eWEEK at the JBoss World Europe conference in Berlin, Fleury expressed disappointment at the level of investment Red Hat had placed in the JBoss core development team and privately expressed exasperation and that he was weighing his next move in the industry.

Click here to read the full interview with Fleury.

In perhaps his last public appearance with Red Hat, Fleury joined his wife Nathalie and new son Axel, along with other Red Hat executives at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 12, to commemorate the day the Red Hat stock opened on the NYSE.

Fleury also represented JBoss/Red Hat at the Javapolis conference in Antwerp, Belgium, in mid-December, where he delivered a keynote presentation dressed as hip-hop icon Flavor Flav.

Red Hat, in a statement, said Fleury "has decided to leave Red Hat to pursue other personal interests, such as teaching, research in biology, music and his family."

In his own statement, Fleury said: "I have done what I can to help Red Hat succeed. People need to understand that Open Source is a tsunami that is transforming the software industry in its wake and its inevitability is now well beyond challenge or the force of individual personality."

One source close to Fleury in the company said Fleurys move was not unexpected. "I think its a good move for Marc," said the source, who requested anonymity. "He wasnt happy anymore and was losing interest in the day-to-day stuff."

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