“Red hat software’s pending IPO bothers me. It’s great that they
expect to raise $96 million by going public, but I hate to think of
what the public markets will do to them.”
“Wall Street seems tough on companies that have a deep-seeded
social vision-Ben & Jerry’s being an extreme example. Traders
don’t care how much good you think you’re doing. They want to see
you make money-any extracurriculars that cut into profits are
considered a waste.”
“In Red Hat’s case, the company’s philosophy-and all of its
success so far-stems from the Kool-Aid of the open-source model,
the almost moralistic belief that freely available source code is
good for business and society. But that’s a hard line for Wall
Street to swallow, and it has implications that bankers aren’t
going to like.”