Linden Research just sold itself to an investment firm

[Zaida Gearbox]

I have a bad feeling about this....

 

[Milly]

Not all invest firms are about buying companies and stripping them. I work for a retailer that was bought by a private equity firm that invests long term in the businesses they buy. They've been doing this for a decade or so and haven't shut down the retailers they've bought . They've improved businesses from what I can tell from my own research and from what they've done with the company I work for.


There were layoffs pre pandemic but that is all over retail. The company I work for has gone from having outdated POS systems and very little emphasis on multichannel sales to upgrading the whole POS (when I started 3.5 years ago my store had DOS based POS system and they were just rolling out the new system)

So hopefully the firm that bought LL is truly about long term investment.

 

[Milly]

However I am not sure how sex work and the adult aspect of SL will fare. I have wondered how SL has managed to still have escorts when sex work across the internet has been forced to shut down bc of changes to federal law. I am not clear how SL managed to escape that when places like Craigslist and FetLife have had to change bc of it.

 

[Wesleytron]

I have wondered how SL has managed to still have escorts when sex work across the internet has been forced to shut down

Because it's not real.

 

[Clinton]

At least it wasn't sold to Zuckerberg.

 

[Noodles]

Horay!

Vulture Capitalists!

I guess it was nice knowing you all.

 

[Sid]

When it is Tilia they are after, they need SL. It is almost the only showcase they have that Tillia works and can make money.
But the moment they have lured in more customers and SL becomes one of the many customers....... Arrivederci Seconda Vita e saluti a tutti bellezze.

 

[Lewis Luminos]

They can't be buying it to sell off the assets since there aren't any assets worth anything if there is no SL.

Tilia. It has the potential to be used for any game or app that uses microtransactions. I can see online casinos being very interested in something like that, and online gambling, internationally, is huge. I can see the investors hanging on to Tilia and supplying other gaming companies with access to it on a subscription basis. If they can earn more with Tilia than they spent on the entire Linden Research package, there's no financial reason to keep SL open at all.

So... how do I do Opensim?

 

[Ailsa Muliaina]

This news doesn't surprise me tbh, I dropped premium last year because I felt I'd regret paying the next year in advance. I've been prepped for SL being sold or closed abruptly for years with LL in charge, so I'm not sure the risk level has increased all that much.

I'm fully expecting my sales to take a dive in the short term because I kinda rely on people having homes/land to rez my stuff on and this could prompt folk to sell land, but I'll be doing business as usual until I can't

 

[Monica Dream]

Horay!

Vulture Capitalists!

I guess it was nice knowing you all.

That sums up my attitude too.

 

[Sid]

I simply continue business as usual in SL.
No big financial losses if someone closes the gates. SL gave me far more good times, distractions and entertainment than I ever payed for, over all those years.
Most I can loose is about 20 USD worth of L$, when the final curtain falls the day when I just bought new L$.
A night at the movies with a disappointing film would set me back about as much, so I will live when that would happen. IF it will happen in the near future (next couple of years) at all.

Maybe I start selling tinfoil hats on the Marketplace.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Maybe I start selling tinfoil hats on the Marketplace.

You'll have competition. There are around 20 varieties there already.

 

[Sid]

You'll have competition. There are around 20 varieties there already.

But not one single role of tinfoil to be found on the marketplace!
So I guess the hoarding has already started big time.
I'm late to the party.
I can't even make one.

 

[Soen Eber]

I wouldn't mind making a Tilia microtransaction to read an odd NYT article and could easily imagine it being a vital revenue stream for all news media. Reporters gotta eat after all, and making mainstream media stronger helps just about all of us.

 

[Sid]

I wouldn't mind making a Tilia microtransaction to read an odd NYT article and could easily imagine it being a vital revenue stream for all news media. Reporters gotta eat after all, and making mainstream media stronger helps just about all of us.

That is an idea with potential IMHO.
I would be willing to buy newspaper tokens too, as long as not every news site would go for its own tokens.
It would be nice, if I could use the same tokens for the NYT, The Times and de Volkskrant, to name a few.

 

[Dain Shan]

I have a bad feeling.
I saw quite a few different software companys, games and other companys who where bought by an Investor or an Investment group.
Non of them exist anymore.

Th best case i know off, where one company that was stripped from staff, pushed down hard by cutting budgets, got cut down in all corners and then sold off piece by piece.. that was a 5 year process, after the last part was sold off. it vanisghed into nirvana.

I really have a bad feeling.

 

[Erich Templar]

Well it appears their bit in common is both are board members of Asure Software which seems to specialize in "workforce management software solutions and services".

Wait, what?! Asure Software? They're one of the customers of the company I work for. They're the last people that I would have imagined having any connection to Linden Lab.

Also, and I don't know how relevant this is, they're struggling...

 

[Beebo Brink]

Also, and I don't know how relevant this is, they're struggling...

Of course they're struggling. Anyone who buys up Linden Research can't be too bright.

Wait, did I say that outloud....

 

[Couldbe Yue]

Even if they have only bought it to get their hands on Tilla, they'll keep SL going as proof of concept until it finds a market.

It sounds to me like it's a helping out a mate but without seeing a recent tyche income calcs (does she even still do them? I can't remember the last time I saw one) and knowing how much it was purchased for, it's all speculative. If they replace the staff I might be a lil more optimistic but until they publish their plans for it, I'd say we're on borrowed time.

Despite Waterfield's claim 'We prefer basic businesses with a few years of proven, conservative growth. We avoid companies that are growing too fast. We believe slow and steady makes the race... ' There's been no real growth for years and the addiction that in the past would've driven this to be at page 100 after 2 days but is only at page 2, kinda demonstrates that the magic that gave it the crack like addictive properties is well gone.

However, if lockdowns continue for the next 12 months then it's possible LL can get some leverage and perhaps build its base but then if people have time to waste in here then it's unlikely in the economic climate to come they'll have huge amounts of disposable income. Which brings me back to the helping out a mate and possibly being able to monetise some assets - whether it be Tilla or the data that SL generates. The more I think about that the more valuable I believe it could be, assuming they do have a data warehouse of transactions and behaviours.

Hey ho. we'll find out soon enough I suppose.

 

[Madi Perth]

Nervous

Well there is one thing we could think. Maybe the CEO of the company that bought us might just be a SL lover.....