4 ms·

Assuming a buy, gitlab becomes part of gcp offering in the coming future ? :D

by kshitij_libra 8y ago

philipov 8y ago
That would be a great way to force people to stop using gitlab.
- goliatone 8y ago
  It really seems like Google is becoming the new Micro$oft in ppls minds, while Microsoft is actually branching in two different “entities” Microsoft Cloud and Ol’Microsoft and the emergence of the cloud faction is changing (some) people’s perception of the overall brand name...
gaius 8y ago
GitLab is VC backed, so they have to be looking for an exit/liquidity event, it’s inescapable. Google, Atlassian (roll it into Bitbucket) or Oracle, has to be one of them.
- carlhjerpe 8y ago
  I honestly don't know, what is vc backed, and how does that turn it's destiny into an exit?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - gaius 8y ago
    They have taken money from venture capitalists who will expect a return on their investment via a sale. That is how the entire venture capital system works. This is all a matter of public record tho’ it makes uncomfortable reading for some. Those who fled Github to Gitlab when Microsoft bought the former might now find a critical piece of their workflow owned by Oracle!
    - nine_k 8y ago
      You can run a Gitlab installation locally, unlike Github. I wonder if setting up Gitlab on premises is already a (small) business.
    - Redoubts 8y ago
      > They have taken money from venture capitalists who will expect a return on their investment via a sale. Or, you know, an IPO. Which is precisely the exit they claim to want: We want to IPO in 2020, specifically on Wednesday November 18. https://about.gitlab.com/strategy/ https://about.gitlab.com/strategy/
      - skinnymuch 8y ago
        Is there any word on how big their losses are, assuming they don’t make a profit? GitHub wasn’t making a profit anymore, but they also don’t provide as much for free as Gitlab (not that Gitlab is doing it purely to be nice. It’s a key differentiator for them). I’d imagine Gitlab’a financials are weaker than GitHub. IPO would probably be a lot weaker play than an acquisition. But I’m just guessing.
  - jacques_chester 8y ago
    Venture capital is based on distinct funds which are raised one at a time. Each pool of money is distinct from the others that a VC might control. They need to report on them individually and they need to pay out of them individually. The key is that each fund has a fixed lifetime, often something like 7-10 years. At the end of the lifetime the final value of the fund is returned to the investors. It's hard to return cash you don't have -- and worse to return a reduction in value to investors (since you'll find it harder to raise next time). So as a practical necessity, at some point, there needs to be a big liquidity event for one or more investments made out of the fund. That could be an IPO or a purchase by another company. Because of the highly speculative nature of VC, almost all of the companies supported out of a fund will fail. These will essentially be ignored. Some few of them will be bought at a price that covers their cost. A very few will do well enough that they are genuine prospects for a big liquidity events. Those companies will be under the most pressure to cash out. Gitlab has taken several rounds of funding now, some very large. These do not appear to have been made on the basis of current assets or current earnings. It seems reasonable to conclude that VCs predict a large exit and wish to ensure that Gitlab will make it to what is, for them, the finish line. Disclaimer: I have never worked in finance and my views are cobbled together from books and blogposts.
jasonvorhe 8y ago
That would be a pretty awesome development. But Google buying a Rails platform would be kind of a surprise move.
- pejrich 8y ago
  Why? I can't imagine a corporation the size of Google would decide to not buy a company, purely based on what language/framework it uses, assuming that buying the company otherwise makes business sense.
- dotjosh 8y ago
  I'd bet "being on the Rails stack" would carry little weight if they were deciding to acquire them.
  - londons_explore 8y ago
    Software stack is actually a pretty big decider. php was pretty much a dealbreaker for google acquisition years ago. It pretty much means google might be happy to buy shares in the company as an investment, but won't buy the whole company and plan to integrate it into their own offering.
- tny_0 8y ago
  Github was a rails platform and google was interested in buying them.
- kevsim 8y ago
  Google bought Crashlytics/Fabric from Twitter and that is (was?) a product based on the Rails stack

Assuming a buy, gitlab becomes part of gcp offering in the coming future ? :D

philipov 8y ago

That would be a great way to force people to stop using gitlab.

goliatone 8y ago
It really seems like Google is becoming the new Micro$oft in ppls minds, while Microsoft is actually branching in two different “entities” Microsoft Cloud and Ol’Microsoft and the emergence of the cloud faction is changing (some) people’s perception of the overall brand name...

gaius 8y ago

GitLab is VC backed, so they have to be looking for an exit/liquidity event, it’s inescapable. Google, Atlassian (roll it into Bitbucket) or Oracle, has to be one of them.

carlhjerpe 8y ago
I honestly don't know, what is vc backed, and how does that turn it's destiny into an exit?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- gaius 8y ago
  They have taken money from venture capitalists who will expect a return on their investment via a sale. That is how the entire venture capital system works. This is all a matter of public record tho’ it makes uncomfortable reading for some. Those who fled Github to Gitlab when Microsoft bought the former might now find a critical piece of their workflow owned by Oracle!
  - nine_k 8y ago
    You can run a Gitlab installation locally, unlike Github. I wonder if setting up Gitlab on premises is already a (small) business.
  - Redoubts 8y ago
    > They have taken money from venture capitalists who will expect a return on their investment via a sale. Or, you know, an IPO. Which is precisely the exit they claim to want: We want to IPO in 2020, specifically on Wednesday November 18. https://about.gitlab.com/strategy/ https://about.gitlab.com/strategy/
    - skinnymuch 8y ago
      Is there any word on how big their losses are, assuming they don’t make a profit? GitHub wasn’t making a profit anymore, but they also don’t provide as much for free as Gitlab (not that Gitlab is doing it purely to be nice. It’s a key differentiator for them). I’d imagine Gitlab’a financials are weaker than GitHub. IPO would probably be a lot weaker play than an acquisition. But I’m just guessing.
- jacques_chester 8y ago
  Venture capital is based on distinct funds which are raised one at a time. Each pool of money is distinct from the others that a VC might control. They need to report on them individually and they need to pay out of them individually. The key is that each fund has a fixed lifetime, often something like 7-10 years. At the end of the lifetime the final value of the fund is returned to the investors. It's hard to return cash you don't have -- and worse to return a reduction in value to investors (since you'll find it harder to raise next time). So as a practical necessity, at some point, there needs to be a big liquidity event for one or more investments made out of the fund. That could be an IPO or a purchase by another company. Because of the highly speculative nature of VC, almost all of the companies supported out of a fund will fail. These will essentially be ignored. Some few of them will be bought at a price that covers their cost. A very few will do well enough that they are genuine prospects for a big liquidity events. Those companies will be under the most pressure to cash out. Gitlab has taken several rounds of funding now, some very large. These do not appear to have been made on the basis of current assets or current earnings. It seems reasonable to conclude that VCs predict a large exit and wish to ensure that Gitlab will make it to what is, for them, the finish line. Disclaimer: I have never worked in finance and my views are cobbled together from books and blogposts.

jasonvorhe 8y ago

That would be a pretty awesome development. But Google buying a Rails platform would be kind of a surprise move.

pejrich 8y ago
Why? I can't imagine a corporation the size of Google would decide to not buy a company, purely based on what language/framework it uses, assuming that buying the company otherwise makes business sense.
dotjosh 8y ago
I'd bet "being on the Rails stack" would carry little weight if they were deciding to acquire them.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  Software stack is actually a pretty big decider. php was pretty much a dealbreaker for google acquisition years ago. It pretty much means google might be happy to buy shares in the company as an investment, but won't buy the whole company and plan to integrate it into their own offering.
tny_0 8y ago
Github was a rails platform and google was interested in buying them.
kevsim 8y ago
Google bought Crashlytics/Fabric from Twitter and that is (was?) a product based on the Rails stack