“Before its smashing market debut in August, Linux star Red Hat
tried to share the financial glory by granting IPO shares to a
thousand or so software developers that helped build the Linux
operating system.”
“Red Hat makes its money distributing Linux. But Linux is the
product of a lot of open source developers’ free labor — it seemed
only fair to share the wealth.”
“For developers who shelled out US$5,600 for 400-share
blocks at the $14 IPO price, the deal probably seemed fair and then
some. Red Hat closed at $284.13 Tuesday, so the initial investments
are now worth $114,000.”