Pirate Bay sells out to Swedish software firm for $7.7m
JimC
> in order to live on #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

The Pirate Bay needs to stop pirating... 'scuse me while I get back on my chair...
M Neligan
Not dead? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, PB - it tolls for thee.
Anonymous Coward
Why would you buy a court case? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

Are these chaps utterly dumb?
Why would you buy a court case waiting to happen?
They seem to think that the users of PB will purchase stuff .... err dumbest idea I heard for a while, these users are career criminals who already do not wish to pay for things they leech from fellow PB criminals.
Ian Ferguson
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

It's not April the 1st, is it? :-(
So long Pirate Bay...
Fraser
Profit? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT
Just goes to show their real colours - screw everyone for money, no 'this should all be free for everyone' when a big wodge of cash is on the table. With any luck, they'll get found guilty on appeal and the fine will be increased to match any profit that they've collectively made.
Oh and don't bang on about them having a right to sell their service, that right was given away when they made other's work available for free. And no, it wasn't just a search engine, if it was they wouldn't have hosted the trackers and they wouldn't have sent abusive emails back to people who asked for their IP to be removed.
David W.
I'm sure... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

...that the new owners will be highly successful at retaining TPB's strident, vocal user base, ho detest any connection to the music and film industries, and convincing them to buy DRM'd music at a buck a track.
'WTF' this time. 'FAIL' next time. Unless, of course, this is a joke - that is, a -literal- joke.
Richard 81
Pah! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

"Sells out" is right.
Jon Brindley
RiP #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

RiP TPB x
hj
end of an era #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

Pirate bay becoming a pay-site ...
Tom 9
Just like Napster #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT
"letting TPB die is the last thing that is allowed to happen"
It did just die.
Can't blame them, though. Who wouldn't take millions of dollars in profit, stick it in a high interest account while they're in prison and then come out and spend it all on sweets?
Defiant
Haha #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

LOL, all those people who stood with them only for this to happen LMAO
Paul Smith
Is this.. #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

the end of an era?
Mines the one walking sadly into the sunset...
Anonymous Coward
No more beer money... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

Well, it's been good - but the dream has ended...
PB saved me plenty of beer money though :)
David Hicks
Well that all worked out well then #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

They get to pay off their fine and sit back on a nice profit.
I wonder what TPB will become? Not that I've ever used it... I get my US tv shows from another place...
James Smith 3
Allowed to profit? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT

I've always thought that the difference between a bunch of harmless freetarding and terrorist-funding serious crime was when those involved started to make money out of it.
They've just gone down in my estimation. Selling your business on so that the buyers can make a legitimate business out of it suggests that they didn't think it was legitimate in the first place!
Why on earth should they be allowed to profit from knowingly setting up an illegitimate enterprise and then selling it on? I hope the year in jail is worth it.
Anonymous Coward
I am so suprised..... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:02 GMT
NOT!!!!!
Good thinig I havn't used it in a while as I bet the logs are being sold as well.
Anonymous Coward
Euros please! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:17 GMT

Less of this dollars nonsense -- this is a .co.uk site I'm at, so I'd prefer Euros or pounds as my comparison. It shouldn't be too hard to script a little routine to localise currency conversions based on whether the reader's at Reg US or Reg UK, surely?
Danny 5
uh oh #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:17 GMT

and that ladies and gentlemen, marks the end of the piratebay........
good for the original creators that they can make serious money from their work, but this will be the end for them. good thing there's plenty of others around.
Anonymous Coward
great conclusion doc! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:17 GMT

I'm sure they weren't in it for the money to begin with, it just developed as it did to become profitable.
Wouldn't you accept 7 million if you owed 2 million?
So I don't get why the heckle in the end.
zerofool2005
Disturbing..... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:17 GMT

Im wondering. Has any of there software been pirated on TPB?
I just think this is a big and expensive torrent honeypot now.
This will kill TPB
Anonymous Coward
Guess thats the end of that site. #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:17 GMT

Heh yeah NOW the site will prosber and attract numerous new users and the mobsters ehmm I meen the recording industri will be happy to make deals with them to bring out music out to the users at fair rates..... HAHAHAHAHA
The bay is dead.
Anonymous Coward
wrong date? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Is this a backlogged headline from 1 April?
Toastan Buttar
True colours #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Ah well, now we can see all the posturing and talk of freedom of speech for what it was. Take the money and run, I say. So long and thanks for all the torrents.
Mark_T
Bye bye #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

I wonder if the new buyers have ever heard of the name Napster?
Lionel Baden
wut ! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT
which idiot will spend 7.7 mill on a website punting illigal software and that will get shutdown if it carries on !!!
Kjetil
Deathsentence for piratebay #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Do these people really think you can make money from piratebay in a way that the contentowners appreciate? The brand name, the technology and the userbase are all compeletely worthless as soon as the users realize they won't get stuff for free anymore. If this report is true, piratebay will go the way of napster.
Peer-to-peer works when distributing free stuff. If you're asking for money, you'll have to provide the bandwidth. Don't know why this is so difficult to realize.
Anonymous Coward
No... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Fucking way, dude.
Jaap stoel
Oh snap! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT
Didn't see that one coming. But I think its potentially good news.
Tom Fotheringham
Is 30th June in Sweden the same as 1st April in the UK? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

"On the internets, stuff dies if it doesn't evolve. We don't want that to happen."
This just counds like corportat b*******t. Tell me this is a wind up?
mmiied
WTF! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

sorry but I just do not undertsand what
a teh compnay who bought them are going to do
b why they sold out to "the man"
c how I missed that today was the first of april
Anonymous Coward
April 1st? #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

The Pirate Bay has been bought, and will be operating with copyright holders?
Look! An MP offering to work for free for the good of mankind!
MJ's back from the dead after 3 days - turns out he's the Second Coming!
adrianww
Title goes here #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

I can understand why they've done this, but I do think it's a bit of a shame. These statements could be seen as some kind of admission that TPB was originally doing something wrong in and of itself. I'm sure that the RI Ass of America and their cronies will spin it that way. Which is a pity, since I still reckon that the whole case against TPB didn't really stack up and it was only a complete lack of technical understanding on the part of the authorities (possibly with a side order of industrial or political leverage??) that allowed them to be found guilty in the first place.
Pirate icon 'cos, well, it's obvious innit?
Tony 34
Yarr... Cough... gurgle.... Thud! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Mine's the coat, I'm outta here......
Anonymous Coward
I am for it #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

as long it remain "international" and not just for "selected countries".
although.... who among us will trust PirateBay with their credit card number?!
Anonymous Coward
all talk no trousers #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Wow! For years I've been reading comments from the TPB founders, banging on about their ideals and how they were liberating everyone to have access to free stuff.
Then in a flash it's "screw you, we took the money, pissed on our ideals and sod you all".
Thanks for the bullshit boys, you really had me going there for a while.
Dave 25
hmmmmmmm #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

something a bit weird going on here...
Stef 2
Hmmm #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

I suspect there's less to this than meets the eye.
Anonymous Coward
Hmmm #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Hmm lets all quieten down and think this through....
A mysterious company pops up and says there buying the pirate bay for $7million or about, remember the pirate bay is not owned by the 4 guys sued AND the pirate bay was not sued in court only the 4 guys so anything the pirate bay does is not related to the court unless they can prove cash from the acquisition of the company went to the four.
Hmmm something is happening behind the scenes, think about these guys they did not brake down at the first hurdle but continued on through the court cases.
Hmmm i think one of the following two things has happened....
1: The four or some of the four members of the pirate bay made this company up, they release the news that the pirate bay is sold, the stock of this company goes through the roof they use the cash from selling the stock to buy the pirate bay FROM the current owners who are not the original four as they stated it is in someone else's hands.
They use the money to fund more projects and the pirate bay becomes public domain been able to be bought and sold by the people who use it look at the logo a block version of the pirate ship with a sign "your share" that could be there aim.
They are not dumping the site or selling out just using the publicity to raise cash outside of themselves i.e. unclaimable by the courts and making ownership of the pirate bay public for all pirates.
Nice sceme
OR
The industry has taken them up on there offer to sell out remember when they offered to sell the pirate bay to them so they could do what they want with it?
Hmmm knowing how these guys think and operate what do you think the reason behind all this is?
-Jay
George Schultz
I call #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT
"Not that they were ever in it for the money"
Yeah right and pigs fly.
Ya'll need a steaming pile of dung icon.
Jon Lamb
Hmmm ... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:18 GMT

Seems like a relatively cheap way to take down the site.
jeffrey 1
I'd Like to be the first to say...... #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT
April Fools!!!!!
What? no one is joking?
Anonymous Coward
I smell bullsh*t #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

Well, well..... the saviours of internet freedom seem to have donned suits. LOL.
Judging by the wrath that can be seen from their unhappy members (blogging at the speed of light), most people feel completely cheated by the sell-out.
If I were them, I'd make sure I kept my cars in the garage just in case some of the many, many people who donated actual-real-proper money to them arrive at the inevitable conclusion that their messiahs were actually normal pirates after all.
Question: What smells stronger?....... Money or bullsh*t?
I'll leave it to you to decide who is smelling what at this time......
Neur0mancer
Wow! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

That is news. People sell out for filthy lucre. Gosh. Story right there...
icon for lame pirate?
Darles Chickens
Sell out #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

What happened to "we cannot and wouldn't pay"? Sounds like even someone's most staunch principles can be bought if the money is right...
Anonymous Coward
daftness #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

One of the big attractions of P2P is that anyone can upload anything and anyone can get at it.
Take that away by enforcing the legal (and reasonable) rules about not abusing copyright, and you don't need the P2P bit, you just need a managed content delivery service with access control and payment mechanisms. Content delivery networks are here today, even ones with payment mechanisms, in various flavours from iTunes to Amazon to the payTV one which Channel 4 use in the UK.
I think TPB have done very nicely to find themselves a buyer. I think the buyer hasn't got such a good deal.
Ozwadi Ogolugi
Oh! #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

That'll be the death of TPB then!!!!
Gavin Taylor
Inevitable #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT
In spite of the "claims" they have made over the years, they were always looking for a way to get rich from it... and it looks like they've succeeded, even after paying the fines they stand to become millionaires.
No doubt the site will now over time morph into something that the new owners will try and profit from, subscription services and so forth... TPB as we know it will die and the freetards will move to other sites and the whole cycle will begin again... and the new Payrate Bay will slowly fad into obscurity like Napster did when that went legit.
Antoinette Lacroix
Well #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT
The new owners "Would like to introduce models . . . " I can imagine how that'll work out. As said in PBs blog: "If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it", which is, indeed, very true. Take the money and run, seems like a sensible approach. Goodbye Piratebay, and thanks for all the fish..
Juillen 1
Win win, it looks like.. #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

Gaming company gets a nice distribution system built in for anything they want to do (think server infrastructure, not name).
TPB owners get money they're probably desperately in need of, and hey, they can set up from scratch again in no time, following exactly the same model as TPB used to have. Methinks some of the purchase money would go to fund that.
I'd definitely drink to that!
Anonymous Coward
Pirate Bay sells out to Swedish software firm for $7.7m #
Posted Tuesday 30th June 2009 12:23 GMT

For $ 7.7 Million
@ James Smith
"Why on earth should they be allowed to profit from knowingly setting up an illegitimate enterprise and then selling it on? I hope the year in jail is worth it."
I would glady spend an all expenses paid year in jail for a healthy share of $7.7 Million, where do I sign up?