> I know of very few cases in which privatization of something publicly run has benefitted the public. this has never been a "publicly" run company in the way

> I know of very few cases in which privatization of something publicly run has benefitted the public. this has never been a "publicly" run company in the way you describe it. It has always been a private limited company. The issue of concern here is that it is going from a private limited company where the shareholders are mostly to do with the rpi foundation, meaning that there is some chance that all the profit generated goes back to the foundation. If its a public company, unless there are strict rules, it'll be open to shareholders buying control and changing the purpose of the trading company to something other than a tool to generate income for the foundation. However thats not a given yet. I really hope that its something that is beneficial to the foundation.