Re: rPI Goes Public

On 14/06/2024 01:21, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Thu, 13 Jun 2024 20:21:25 +0100, Pancho wrote:
 

My point was that The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity.

 That’s not the company that has gone public.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation and Raspberry Pi Ltd (Or whatever it is called) are intimately linked. Raspberry Pi Ltd is a subsidiary.
So the Raspberry Pi Foundation now has a large share of an asset worth 100s of millions. Shares that are easily convertible into cash. The people who control Raspberry Pi Foundation have control over the shares in Raspberry Pi Ltd.
People who control charities have a number of ways to enrich themselves. Paying themselves large salaries is one way, employee share ownership schemes are another. Both of these methods are influenced by the perceived value of the organisation. They will tell you they are growing the value of the charity for the good of humanity, but they coincidentally get rich in the process.
For the avoidance of doubt, my cynicism is general as opposed to being based on any specific personal knowledge of the Raspberry Pi organisation, beyond the recent articles in the press. This is similar to the way I was suspicious of the Google company motto “Don't be evil.”, presenting Google as altruistic rather than self-interested.