8 ms·

feel compelled to shout out Jean-Baptiste Kempf (VLC) who refused to sell the project for 'several tens of millions' which makes me pretty confident that there'

feel compelled to shout out Jean-Baptiste Kempf (VLC) who refused to sell the project for 'several tens of millions' which makes me pretty confident that there's still people out there who will stick to their principles

SergeAx 5y ago
I am sure that MailChimp founders were sincere in their unwillingness to sell company. But 12 billions is 12 billions. I am sure that author of VLC would sell his product for much bigger money, the only problem that there's no one to offer him bigger money.
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
  >I am sure that author of VLC would sell his product for much bigger money, the only problem that there's no one to offer him bigger money. I don't know, having billions looks like a liability to me.
  - SergeAx 5y ago
    I don't think that we may classify big money as liability. Usually you cannot quickly get rid of your liability for free.
    - tonyedgecombe 5y ago
      https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/07/28/15-downsides-to-being-rich.aspx https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/07/28/15-downsides-to-b...
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    I’d be willing to risk that liability.
  - jacobr1 5y ago
    It is, but it also a liability you can afford to pay others to manage in detail.
nnx 5y ago
Not to remove any praise to JB, would he still have refused if the offer was in the billions rather than millions? There's a point where it might make sense for him... even if not for bare personal/lifestyle reasons, a billion could be useful to fund plenty new or existing opensource projects in line with his principles.
Jensson 5y ago
The difference between 10 million and 10 billion is a factor of 1000. Ask yourself, if a job offered you 100 million instead of the normal 100k for a software engineer would you be prepared to do things you normally wouldn't do?
- Barrin92 5y ago
  gonna be totally honest with you and you can choose to not believe me but nope. For one I like the peace of mind of sticking to my principles more than money secondly I already don't know what to do with my money and I make slightly less than 100k. most of my money is spent on books and the occasional dinner out with the spouse and fishing equipment, I genuinely can't make sense what I'd do differently with a million or quadrillion.
  - telesilla 5y ago
    Offer other people the opportunity to enjoy the life you have the privilege to live.
    - Barrin92 5y ago
      I don't think doing that through money is a good thing. I actually thought about that a lot when Tony Hsieh died, which probably a lot of people here are familiar with. He was incredibly generous, had the best intentions, but at the end of the day he created dependency relationships. 'Offering' other people a life well lived as if that should be my task and not theirs, and justifying things you otherwise wouldn't do has very big problems. Because you can always take it one step further, it never ends really.
      - necovek 5y ago
        You could start a business and hire people: offering others a chance is not necessarily about just donating money and letting others live as leeches. Basically, anyone who's got kids is trying (struggling?) to impart this very life lesson: it's easiest to just get your kids what they want, but that's not the best way to raise them.
elif 5y ago
Ben and Dan (MC) have publically turned down offers that would make them each actual billionaires (cash not stock)
- pc86 5y ago
  Until now.

SergeAx 5y ago

I am sure that MailChimp founders were sincere in their unwillingness to sell company. But 12 billions is 12 billions. I am sure that author of VLC would sell his product for much bigger money, the only problem that there's no one to offer him bigger money.

tonyedgecombe 5y ago
>I am sure that author of VLC would sell his product for much bigger money, the only problem that there's no one to offer him bigger money. I don't know, having billions looks like a liability to me.
- SergeAx 5y ago
  I don't think that we may classify big money as liability. Usually you cannot quickly get rid of your liability for free.
  - tonyedgecombe 5y ago
    https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/07/28/15-downsides-to-being-rich.aspx https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/07/28/15-downsides-to-b...
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I’d be willing to risk that liability.
- jacobr1 5y ago
  It is, but it also a liability you can afford to pay others to manage in detail.

nnx 5y ago

Not to remove any praise to JB, would he still have refused if the offer was in the billions rather than millions? There's a point where it might make sense for him... even if not for bare personal/lifestyle reasons, a billion could be useful to fund plenty new or existing opensource projects in line with his principles.

Jensson 5y ago

The difference between 10 million and 10 billion is a factor of 1000. Ask yourself, if a job offered you 100 million instead of the normal 100k for a software engineer would you be prepared to do things you normally wouldn't do?

Barrin92 5y ago
gonna be totally honest with you and you can choose to not believe me but nope. For one I like the peace of mind of sticking to my principles more than money secondly I already don't know what to do with my money and I make slightly less than 100k. most of my money is spent on books and the occasional dinner out with the spouse and fishing equipment, I genuinely can't make sense what I'd do differently with a million or quadrillion.
- telesilla 5y ago
  Offer other people the opportunity to enjoy the life you have the privilege to live.
  - Barrin92 5y ago
    I don't think doing that through money is a good thing. I actually thought about that a lot when Tony Hsieh died, which probably a lot of people here are familiar with. He was incredibly generous, had the best intentions, but at the end of the day he created dependency relationships. 'Offering' other people a life well lived as if that should be my task and not theirs, and justifying things you otherwise wouldn't do has very big problems. Because you can always take it one step further, it never ends really.
    - necovek 5y ago
      You could start a business and hire people: offering others a chance is not necessarily about just donating money and letting others live as leeches. Basically, anyone who's got kids is trying (struggling?) to impart this very life lesson: it's easiest to just get your kids what they want, but that's not the best way to raise them.

elif 5y ago

Ben and Dan (MC) have publically turned down offers that would make them each actual billionaires (cash not stock)

pc86 5y ago
Until now.