LinuxInsider: Will Open Source Close Your Exit?

“For many private equity investors, the following scenario has
begun to play out on a recurring basis: One of the investors
portfolio companies is a potential acquisition candidate, with a
term sheet negotiated and signed. The acquiror begins its due
diligence with an inquiry into the origin of the company’s
technology, conducting interviews with the development team and
running code-scanning tools to identify embedded copyright and
license notices.

“After a few days, the acquiror informs management of the
erstwhile target, to its great surprise, that the company’s
developers made inappropriate use of ‘open source’ software
programs obtained over the Internet in developing the company’s
products…”

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