Red Hat is the worlds best-known Linux distributor, but with its acquisition of JBoss, completed on June 5, it also wants to become a well-known service-oriented architecture company.
The Raleigh, N.C.-based Linux distributor announced on April 10 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the open-source Java middleware company after months of rumors that JBoss had been looking for a buyer.
The final price, according to Timothy Yeaton, Red Hats senior vice president of enterprise solutions, was $420 million, made up of 40 percent cash and 60 percent Red Hat stock. This is $70 million more than the original estimate.
When the deal was first announced, Red Hat officials had said that an additional $70 million might be paid depending upon JBoss financial performance. Oracle was alleged to be looking to pay up to $480 million for JBoss.
Starting immediately, JBoss will be a division of Red Hat. Customers will now have access to a single, “proven” global production support organization that can service both Red Hat and JBoss customers, in addition to procuring JBoss offerings through Red Hats established global channels, according to Red Hat.
“JBoss will be an autonomous division. There will be no office closings and were keeping the entire core JBoss team,” Yeaton said.