Baystar Confirms Microsoft Behind SCO Investment

Bruce Perens writes "Business Week has confirmed that Microsoft arranged the Baystar investment in SCO. A managing partner of Baystar says the call wasn't from Gates or Ballmer. But it wouldn't have to be, would it? Obviously, there's more investigation to do." Reader skreuzer writes "Yahoo Finance is reporting that SCO announced that the company's board of directors has authorized management, in its discretion, to purchase up to 1.5 million shares of SCO's common stock over the next 24 months. SCO has approximately 14.4 million shares of common stock issued and outstanding. Any repurchased shares will be held as treasury stock and will be available for general corporate purposes." Newsforge (which is also part of OSDN) is also following the story.

Business week couldn't confirm it...

[bc90021]

...but rumours abound on Wall Street, that Lucifer, LLC, may secretly be behind the entire arrangement. "We can't confirm it", said one source who wished to remain very anonymous, "but we know that with soul trading trending upward, it can only be that Lucifer, LLC is on a buying streak." He continued, cautiously, "It seems, though, that the souls Lucifer is getting aren't of the highest quality."

Ironically, a spokesperson for Lucifer, LLC, could be reached, and did indeed comment. "Oh, yes, we're snatching up all the souls we can. There's only two companies in this space right now, and being half of them, we're trying to beat out Heavenly Productions, LP. If they hadn't sunk so much capital into, and gotten so much great PR from that new movie, we might have been able to grab several more souls during the deal. We're betting, though, that soon enough, there will be promises that need to be kept, and then executives of 'certain companies' will be ready to sign their souls over."

When pressed, the spokesperson would divulge nothing further about the companies, except that one of them was in a desert\, and the other in a dreary woodland area. "All I can say is that it doesn't seem to bother these execs, since they seem to have chosen areas much like our [Patent Pending] HELL world."

Heavenly LP, privately held, had no comments. Lucifer LLC was up slightly on the day.

now...

[domenic v1.0]

if only microsoft would invest that time and money into their security initiative.

Not bad

[the Man in Black]

"LIAR! LIAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" -- Carol Kane, The Princess Bride

While I understand that this isn't illegal as such, isn't it an SEC violation?

Don't worry, microsoft is safe.

[Gannoc]

With Bush in office, you don't have to worry about the communists keeping microsoft from making money.

Re:Countersuit potential?

[ultrabot]

I hope someone can mount a counter-suit on behalf of the Linux community, and somehow defeat the MSFT legal juggernaut.

That won't happen during Bush administration, for sure.

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[stephenisu]

In the state of underhanded tactics that MS has been known to use (I mean, they are a large corp, you don't get THAT big without playing dirty, or being free), I am not at all surprised. Next thing you know, they are gonna give free copies of Office to people who influence buying for their companies....

/Obvious tag needed

Re: Don't worry about Microsoft

[Gannoc]

(Score:-1, Flamebait)
by Gannoc (210256) on Thursday March 11, @10:59AM (#8532136)

With Bush in office, you don't have to worry about the communists keeping microsoft from making money.


This isn't flamebait, it is bitter, pessimistic political commentary. I have plenty of Karma to burn...

SCO is part of the Illuminati conspiracy

[miskatonic alumnus]

Someone linked to this on Groklaw a few days ago. Anyone who's played Steve Jackson's "Illuminati" will get a kick out of it: SCO/Illuminati [userfriendly.org]

I've got GREAT news!

[Chordonblue]

"So, SCO's claims against IBM (and the rest of the world) have turned out to be legit?"

"No... I just saved a sh!tload of money by switching to Geico!" :)

1984 RELOADED

[goerge_o]

Watch the trailer of the upcoming movie starring famous M$,SCO,Groklaw and others on: www.bravegnuworld.org Sums it up pretty nicely :-)

Re:now...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it's all a misunderstanding... We thought they meant "Security Initiative", but what they *really* said "Securities Initiative".

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[lacrymology.com]

"Next thing you know, they are gonna give free copies of Office to people who influence buying for their companies"

OH PLEASE! No you've gone too far... they would never go that...

D'OH!
-m

Re:Darl at McDonald's

[britneys 9th husband]

Actually no, he would buy some obscure company that makes coffee, and sue McDonalds, claiming that parts of their coffee recipe violate his intellectual property. Of course, he would never tell which parts of the recipe had been copied. After suing McDonalds, he would threaten to sue other commercial users of Coffee (like small independent coffee shops) for IP violation.

Furthermore, we would find out that Starbucks is actually bankrolling the whole effort, as a way of killing off the other coffee shops.

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[edbarrett]

As long as the Bush Administration is in [O]ffice

No no no, that's Clippy. Although I can see where you could get confused...

Transcript of the Phone Call

[ahodgkinson]

NOTE: In order to preserve privacy, some names have been changed.

BayStart operator: Hello, BayStart Capital, How my I direct your call?
Caller: Yeah. Dis is Mario. I wanna talk to da boss. Now!
Baystar operator: One minute please.
Goldfahnder: Hello. Goldfahnder here.
Caller: Is dis da Boss o' BayStart?
Goldfahnder: Excuse me?
Caller: Are you da Boss of BaySta?
Goldfahnder: Oh. Yes, my name is Lawrence Goldfahnder and I am the managing director of BayStart Capital. What can I do for you?
Caller: Yeah. Dis is Mario, I'm a friend of Bill, see. And Bill told me that youze guys gotta send some money over to SCO. Got that?
Goldfahnder: What? Who is this?
Caller: I told you already, Mario... A friend of Bill's. Ya don't get it, do ya? Bill says that you gotta give money to SCO.. or else! Got that? Or do I gotta come over and stick your head down the toilet an' clean your ears?
Goldfahnder (somewhat surprized): Ahm, erm. Are you suggesting that we should invest some money in SCO?
Caller: Yeah. Jez, for a smart guy like you, you sure are dumb. You could call it investment.. or whatever. Just send over money... a lotta money... now.
Goldfahnder (shakily): Yes, Mr. Mario. I'll see that it gets done, right away.
Caller: That's more like it. You do that, and don't make me come over and visit you... click.

strange feeling

[chadseld]

I'm a little freaked out that the conspiracy theories we came up with at the beginning of this whole thing might actually be true.

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[Taladar]

*searches for the "+5 Scary" Moderation*

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[Filmwatcher888]

D'OH!

No.... DOD!

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes let's all become socialists so that all the corruption can be centralized within the government.

Re:Tell the truth, dammit

[MullerMn]

"It looks like you're trying to funnel money to your corporate buddies and turn the country into a police state by 'liberating' the shit out of some foreign country. Would you like any help?"

The sky is blue...

[bill_doors]

and the roses are red... Microsoft is behind SCO suit? oh! i can not believe it :P
Why i am wonder? why i should?
Damn it! redmond guys are the authors of all this mess... everybody know it.