back to article Pirate Bay sells out to Swedish software firm for $7.7m

Global Gaming Factory X AB (GGF) has agreed to buy BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay for $7.7m (60m Swedish Crowns), according to a statement on the company's website. The Swedish software outfit confirmed the acquisition this morning. Under the deal GGF has also bought file sharing tech firm Peerialism. "We would like …

COMMENTS

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  1. JimC
    Pirate

    > in order to live on

    The Pirate Bay needs to stop pirating... 'scuse me while I get back on my chair...

  2. M Neligan
    Unhappy

    Not dead?

    Ask not for whom the bell tolls, PB - it tolls for thee.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Why would you buy a court case?

    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.

  4. Ian Ferguson
    Pirate

    Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

    It's not April the 1st, is it? :-(

    So long Pirate Bay...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Profit?

    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.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    I'm sure...

    ...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.

  7. Richard 81
    Thumb Down

    Pah!

    "Sells out" is right.

  8. Jon Brindley
    Unhappy

    RiP

    RiP TPB x

  9. hj
    WTF?

    end of an era

    Pirate bay becoming a pay-site ...

  10. Tom 9

    Just like Napster

    "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?

  11. Defiant
    Linux

    Haha

    LOL, all those people who stood with them only for this to happen LMAO

  12. Paul Smith
    Coat

    Is this..

    the end of an era?

    Mines the one walking sadly into the sunset...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    No more beer money...

    Well, it's been good - but the dream has ended...

    PB saved me plenty of beer money though :)

  14. David Hicks
    Pirate

    Well that all worked out well then

    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...

  15. James Smith 3
    Stop

    Allowed to profit?

    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.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I am so suprised.....

    NOT!!!!!

    Good thinig I havn't used it in a while as I bet the logs are being sold as well.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Euros please!

    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?

  18. Danny 5
    Unhappy

    uh oh

    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.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    great conclusion doc!

    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.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Disturbing.....

    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

  21. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Guess thats the end of that site.

    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.

  22. This post has been deleted by its author

  23. Toastan Buttar
    Pint

    True colours

    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.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Bye bye

    I wonder if the new buyers have ever heard of the name Napster?

  25. Lionel Baden

    wut !

    which idiot will spend 7.7 mill on a website punting illigal software and that will get shutdown if it carries on !!!

  26. Kjetil
    WTF?

    Deathsentence for piratebay

    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.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    No...

    Fucking way, dude.

  28. Jaap stoel

    Oh snap!

    Didn't see that one coming. But I think its potentially good news.

  29. Tom Fotheringham
    Thumb Down

    Is 30th June in Sweden the same as 1st April in the UK?

    "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?

  30. mmiied
    WTF?

    WTF!

    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

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    April 1st?

    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!

  32. adrianww
    Pirate

    Title goes here

    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?

  33. Tony 34
    Coat

    Yarr... Cough... gurgle.... Thud!

    Mine's the coat, I'm outta here......

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    I am for it

    as long it remain "international" and not just for "selected countries".

    although.... who among us will trust PirateBay with their credit card number?!

  35. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    all talk no trousers

    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.

  36. Dave 25
    FAIL

    hmmmmmmm

    something a bit weird going on here...

  37. Stef 2
    Pirate

    Hmmm

    I suspect there's less to this than meets the eye.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Hmmm

    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

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I call

    "Not that they were ever in it for the money"

    Yeah right and pigs fly.

    Ya'll need a steaming pile of dung icon.

  40. Jon Lamb
    Black Helicopters

    Hmmm ...

    Seems like a relatively cheap way to take down the site.

  41. jeffrey 1

    I'd Like to be the first to say......

    April Fools!!!!!

    What? no one is joking?

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I smell bullsh*t

    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......

  43. Neur0mancer
    Pirate

    Wow!

    That is news. People sell out for filthy lucre. Gosh. Story right there...

    icon for lame pirate?

  44. Darles Chickens
    FAIL

    Sell out

    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...

  45. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    daftness

    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.

  46. Ozwadi Ogolugi
    Dead Vulture

    Oh!

    That'll be the death of TPB then!!!!

  47. This post has been deleted by its author

  48. Antoinette Lacroix

    Well

    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..

  49. Juillen 1
    Pint

    Win win, it looks like..

    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!

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Pirate Bay sells out to Swedish software firm for $7.7m

    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?

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hang on lads, I've got a great idea

    1) Get sued for $2,000,000

    2) Sell TPB for $7,700,000

    3) Pay fine

    4) ...

    5) Profit!

  52. Defiant
    Alert

    You've Been Conned

    Notice they pulled this stunt AFTER getting MEP's on the EU gravy train ;)

  53. Winkypop Silver badge
    Badgers

    Must dash....

    ...I'm on a Download-a-thon......

  54. gautam
    Coat

    Life goes on!

    So what other alternate sites are there, comparable to TPB in terms of offerings? This is necessary in the silly game of cat n mouse with RIAA's cocaine lifestyle mobs.

    Any suggestions/Links, please?

    Mines the one with bullet proof innards and an anonymous IP browser client built in.

  55. Mike 61
    Pint

    Good on them

    They know they can no longer safely run the site without getting constantly sued and fined so they sell out to some corporate n00bz who have no idea what the site is really all about. grab the quick cash and move on. I hope they open a different site with all that cash. Now all we need to do is have a naming contest for the new site. I suggest BitOverlords.com ;)

  56. Richie 2
    Pirate

    Well I never ..

    .. It seems that crime does pay after all.

  57. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder...

    I wonder if there are laws in Sweeden about confiscating money which is a profit from crime, like in the UK. In which case, they could be royally boned - no money to pay fine, no profit from sale of company, etc.

  58. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who needs the pirate bay....

    anyway? I´ve been torrenting for the last 5 years and have never used the pirate bay. Google is a much better alternative when looking for good turrents.

    Fight the industri support google

  59. Paul Hates Handles

    Maybe...

    ...once this company owns the site they'll go after TPB users and try and fine 'em for illegal downloads to recoup the cost of buying the site...?

  60. Long Fei
    Alert

    Well, good for them.

    I don't understand how people can call them names.

    After all TPB has been a reliable 'free service' for years, and then when they finally sell out (and wouldn't you, for 7m?) freetards throw a spaz and blame them of being greedy!!!

    Where's the irony icon???

  61. Joe K
    Big Brother

    Oh well

    Back to the newsgroups then everyone.

    Full speed, and no tracking/logging. OK, you have to pay a tenner or so a month to a provider nowadays as no ISP will touch Usenet now, but its worth it.

  62. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I just find the entire situation ...

    highly amusing to say the least :)

  63. Thomas 18

    @ Hang on lads, I've got a great idea

    As long as stage 4 is "go directly to jail & be miserable for 1 year" I don't have a problem with it. It's either sell out to pay fine + some compensation or get all your servers and code repossessed by the RIAA.

    I guess you can't put off paying fines until an appeal has been heard or something.

  64. wolfmeister

    arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. but wait!

    i think you guys arent thinking straight & jumping the gun - why would someone pay 7 mill for a site that in theory cant make money, and if it's format is changed "will die"

    think about it? no-one throws 7 mill around for no reason - there's more to this than meets the eye.

  65. MrWeetabix
    Go

    Nice spot of business there.....

    Fair-play in my eyes, TBP becomes worthless once its becomes "legit" anyway, so take the cash and start again! Watch out for new domain registrations...

    TheNewPirateBay.org

    Piratebay2.org

    Nice bit of business and no doubt they have a nice backup of data to help them start from scratch elsewhere.

  66. Flybert

    what's a shame ...

    .. is this will likely harm the image of the various Pirate Party groups among EU States

    .. "btjunkie party" just doesn't have the same ring to it ..

  67. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge
    FAIL

    I'm sure it'll work out...

    I'm sure it'll work out for them just as well as it did for napster. Look how popular they are now!

    (In all seriousness I was surprised to see napster even still exists, I assumed "new napster" folded years ago.)

    Now Thepiratebay's new owners can find the *joys* of trying to do things legit... the movie and music cos lay on the licensing red tape so thick, NO-ONE has been able to get a service running in more than 1 or 2 countries. They have not figured out the internet is global.

    Of course that'd still beat the *0* countries thepiratebay is probably working in now (checking from 2 different networks it appears it's down right now.)

  68. Escovado
    Pirate

    A fool and his money are soon parted.

    Question: Hasn't the Global Gaming Factory X AB ever heard of Napster?

    Arrrrrr! Shiver me timbers! Crime does pay afterall!

  69. imposter
    Paris Hilton

    So they're just like the users then?

    It's all about principles, smite the capitalists. Not about getting free stuff. Oh no.

    It's huge blow to the music industry's chance of reforming, and hollywood can keep churning pointless remakes, franchise tainting sequels and dross out for that much longer too.

    Lastly there's a lot of talk of rewarding copyright owners around at the moment, I hope I'm not the only one who notes the distinction from "rewarding the artists"?

    Paris because she too is just after easy money and free stuff.

  70. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    How does this affect The Pirate Party?

    Wasn't The Pirate Bay a poster child for The Pirate Party? You've actually got some people elected into parliament in Sweden and Germany who are members of that political organization.

    Also, just because they got money to cover their fines, the founders still have been sentenced to prison.

    I don't see how this helps anyone.

  71. Stephen 5
    Big Brother

    Re: arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. but wait!

    " i think you guys arent thinking straight & jumping the gun - why would someone pay 7 mill for a site that in theory cant make money, and if it's format is changed "will die"

    think about it? no-one throws 7 mill around for no reason - there's more to this than meets the eye."

    Exactly, the real question here is "How much money would the RIAA and MPAA be willing to spend to dismantle the Pirate Bay?" $7 mil is pocket change to get rid of such a defiant thorn in their side.

  72. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (untitled)

    Why should the reader have to do basic numeracy? To quote values in a currency that is neither the original for the story, nor the currency of the reader, will always be a major "Fail".

  73. thedirtygerman
    Pirate

    Doesn't look good

    Network Timeout

    The operation timed out when attempting to contact thepiratebay.com.

    The requested site did not respond to a connection request and the browser has stopped waiting for a reply.

    ...

    The end has begun or every man + dog wants their last freetard fix.

    RIP TPB

  74. Brian Witham
    Flame

    Well, they have seen the road ahead...

    It could be a wild stab here but maybe since the appeal isn't going so well they realised the entire legal system and not just one corrupt judge in the initial trial doesn't understand their defence. When the road ahead is so clearly leading to destruction they've taken the sensible approach - find some sucker and bail out now.

    I await the days when true freedom comes, when we don't need sites like TPB becasue the entertainment industry stops raping the consumer with region coding, price discrimination and price exploitation.

    If they let go of old marketing, embrace the low marginal cost of digital media and give legitamate users the freedom to use the media they've bought - the freetards will be manageable. Acceptance that people will breach copyright - and adjusting to support the "right" way is the only long term strategy.

    You strike this one down and another will grow back - must like the damn weeds in the garden - time to get the flamethrower out

  75. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    $7.7 million for a domain name?

    All they have got for thier $7.7 million dollars is a Domain name and some servers

    The users and uploaders who made TPB what it is today will all move to somewhere else.

    The only way to make money on TPB now would be to sell IP addresses to RIAA or MPAA for them to go after people who use TPB to Upload/Download Pirate Music and Movies!

    Lets be honest, why on earth would a company that makes Cybercafe control software want TPB unless it was a front for some sinister plan!

    Expect emails from your ISP very soon people!

  76. adrian sietsma

    Real Pirates..

    are only too happy to take the money and run.

    Where's the "pile of doubloons" icon when you need it ?

  77. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    It's funny

    I am always amazed by the amounts of clueless people who still believe that TPB ever did anything even remotely illegal. The "copyright holder" leeches managed to get a few individuals convinced (in an obviously flawed trial, btw. Hope Sweden gets it's arse kicked by the EU over that), but the tracker remains clean.

  78. vivaelamor
    Grenade

    To all the 'in it for the money' crowd.

    For those claiming that the guys running the site are making a big profit for themselves, please read their blog post which was conveniently linked in this article. I quote:

    "The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets."

    You may or may not believe him, but you should not ignore him.

  79. Gav
    Megaphone

    Dubious Business

    Nice how the freetards show their true colours. All that posturing about how information wants to be free comes to nothing. It was always all about making money on TPB's side and getting free stuff on their user's side.

    What's just as pleasant is all the people who are cheerfully concluding that TPB have, in fact, just shafted Global Gaming Factory by selling them something worthless for millions. If this were an accurate reflection of the matter (which I doubt), does nobody care that its just a little dishonest? I guess if you're a TPB fanboy anything they do, no matter how morally suspect, is ok.

    And all those comparing it to the "demise" of Napster. Napster has annual revenue in the tens of millions and was recently sold for $121 million. If that's demise, I'm sure GGF will be happy to have some of it. Just because it's not interested in attracting freetards anymore doesn't mean it's not successful.

  80. Jamie Jones Silver badge
    Stop

    Why blame them?

    Whilst I agree that it's crazy for a company to pay any amount for this site, I don't see how you can criticise the people who sold it.

    If I had some website, or something, that I didn't create for the money, and used it to promote some sort of agenda for the people, I'd still sell out if offered this kind of cash.

    Am I a sellout? Well for millions, YES!

    Just 'cos they sold out, it doesn't mean that this was always some kind of gameplan. Leave them alone, unless you can honestly say that you'd refuse this level of cash offer yourselves!

  81. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It will create a vacume which a new site will quickly fill.

    If you get rid of TPB another site will pop up in its place. There are probably dozens of other candidates which are help back solely by TPB's success.

    Personally I prefer avoiding the hassles of software piracy and simply using free/open source software whenever possible. Asside from Windows I have maybe 2 or 3 non-free programs running on my system.

  82. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    whingers

    (1) You have the opportunity to take a liability off your "books" and hand if off to someone else.

    (2) You can get paid handsomely for it.

    (3) You have the opportunity to reinvest your money in a bigger, better TPB.

    (4) You have the further opportunity to give all the whingers a stiff finger.

  83. Dex
    Megaphone

    end of an era maybe..

    but there AREother torrent engines, userbase will move to those till if ever tpb comes bback

  84. Heff
    Boffin

    Hooray!

    Frankly, If this is true, its the best encouragement for piracy I've ever seen.

    Look, Freetards. I Pirate. Napster went legit. Napster makes money. Shawn now probably sleeps well at night knowing hes not about to be arrested. Im sure Sunde and Co will be very happy in that respect, and thats a good thing.

    Why?

    Napster Pirate -> Napster Legit -> Napster Money

    TPB Pirate -> TPB Legit -> TPB Money.

    Let the trend continue until its a risky but attractive business model. till it ends up like Pirate radio; Get Cred, build a brand, build a userbase, sell out to consortium. rinse, repeat. Frankly Im glad to see this, its better than the cold freezeout which led to the downfall of places like Lokitorrent.

    As for the conspiracy theorists... really? cry more, can you. you sound like the apoplectic teenagers when Napster went legit, yelling that their doors were going to be smashed in and mommy and daddys precious computer was going to be taken by the big bad Po-lice. You're not that important. Piracy does not make you that cool. the RIAA does not care about you, and you are not sticking it to the man. Freetards as a 'lifestyle' or a 'rebellious phase' are just this generations beatniks at woodstock; just as deluded, just as discardable, just as pointless.

    I dont see what the remaining freetards are crying about. Your 'heros' just made a pack of cash. another torrent site will step up and fill the space. The people interested in Scene releases for copyright protection, in advance movie leaks, in torrenting massive libraries of music : they are still out there. If anything, this result makes Piracy more legitimate , it states it can be a pathway to legal money. And well... I'd rather people like Shawn Fanning and Sunde &co get a bucket of money. Its hard to have principals and no money. With a lot of money... what can you do?

    Genius sticker, because most of the comments here so far are incapable of watching a market trend, tracking prosecution-to-record IP statistics, or even keeping up with basic internet revenue models.

  85. Aldous
    Stop

    look closer

    the website fore the company has not been updated since 2007 and it claims to be listed as a public traded company using the abbrev GGF (http://www.globalgamingfactory.com/Shares.html)

    now go to the swedish stock exchange and search http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/aktier?q=GGF. again a random broker site that seems to list all stocks on the swedish market http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/exchanges.php?exch=sfb&showcategories=STK&showproducts=&sequence_idx=200&sortproducts=&ib_entity=llc#show

    bit suspicious that the links on the companys sites (in the share section) 404 (i can't read swedish so dunno what it all says but clicking an older news items 404) . it does not appear to be listed on the swedish exchange (unless i missed something) . so i dunno wind up or not you decidede

  86. Eduard Coli
    Pint

    Goodbye PB

    We hardly knew ye.

  87. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Take the money and give it to the authorities

    These criminals are gonna be giving all of that money derived from criminal activities to the authorities, as required under law. Oops they Phucked up again!

  88. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    who cares?

    plenty more trackers out there

  89. telecine
    FAIL

    bye bye

    all good things must come to an end :-(

  90. Ed 17
    FAIL

    Profit from theft? Never!

    So much for "ideals". Damn right I'd sell out for $7 million. Not that I'd try to make a profit on theft to begin with...

  91. Steen Hive

    allyourjudgesarebelongtous.org

    Time to get out anyway.

  92. Qneiform

    @ M Neligan

    The fact that His Lordship hasn't got a nose just adds to the inexpressible horror of it. Thanks for the heads up re. insurance, though.

  93. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Title to a pirate site

    Could be a sellout. Could just be a donation to the cause. Nothing to stop them spending the money on a new site just like the old one, but better (oh, and paying their fines, of course).

  94. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I for one...

    Welcome our new Swedish Torrent Masters at www.thepirateb4y.com.

    Seriously, the only thing TPB has is a few servers and a domain name. It's not hard to duplicate the service at a new address...

  95. b166er

    I can't believe you lot.

    They are NOT criminals, but it seems you're all quite happy for them to take the fall for all of YOUR copyright infringments and then have the audacity (or downright short-sightedness) to say they blew you out on the promise of sticking it to the man - WEASELS

    They only stood up because they believed Swedish law would agree with them (and it should have). Now because things being what they are, the Swedish legal system rolled over, you're blaming the four (if they receive a penny that is) for taking the money to pay their fines and set up a "foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openness of the nets." - HYPOCRITES

    I reckon you've all got moral broomstick handles up your asses, which is OK I guess as long as you remember TPB did NOTHING, NOTHING wrong.

    Humanity is doomed I tels ya.

  96. Anthony Shortland
    WTF?

    name?

    So I guess its just going to be called "The Bay" from now on then if its not going to be based around pirated media/software?

  97. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They got what they deserved...

    ...Prison time and a still fine for piracy.

    Maybe they'll learn something of value while in prison?

  98. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    i don't understand it

    the piratebay has never been one of the better p2p sites, it's just survived longer than most due to its location.

    all it has ever been is a central location for people to post links, unlike the better sites it has never verified or indexed the stuff posted, simply relying on user comments to verify.

    before i'm accused of being a freetard, the only stuff i get via piratebay et-al, is stuff that isn't available any other way. note to publishers, If you've withdrawn all copies from cinemas (which is a crappy system anyway in most places, especially if there isn't one handy) don't be surprised if people pirate stuff in the several months it's unavailable any other way. nevermind stuff that isn't ever released officially outside America. The pirate bay does have it's place!

  99. Alexis Vallance

    Fuss over nothing

    Am I only person who thinks TPB wasn't actually that good??

    THere are far more torrents on BTJunkie and Demonoid.

  100. David A
    Go

    Re: look closer

    @Aldous

    Interesting observation. GGF is not registered with nasdaqomxnordic.com but with the smaller aktietorget.se, where I believe the Financial Supervisory Authority (fi.se) have less authority.

    Unless you noticed other comments. The deal is not closed yet. GGF has to gather the money, and its board of directors must approve.

  101. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Boo, Hoo

    These criminals get busted, have a trial, get convicted, fined and go to prison. What's the big deal? They knew their day would come. They were just stupid.

  102. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Legal Pirate Bay.

    Ok, so taking Spotify as a business model, subscribers to TPB get free downloads in exchange for watching an ad that plays before the download. If they want to avoid the ads, then they pay for premium service. The new owners of the TPB have a revenue source which pays royalties to the content provider (legal copyright owner).

    Could work if they can partner deals with every type of copyright owner. Software we develop and which currently has been downloaded say 12,000 times at the moment would at least generate some income.

    Here is the BUT, the copyright holder should have the ability to block the pirate copy if the deal is not agreed.

  103. Gordon861
    Pirate

    The 'New' Pirate Bay

    Wait for the announcement next week, Coming Soon The 'New' Pirate Bay, hosted in some small African country that no ones ever heard of, or multiple servers spread out over the world.

    I rarely used TPB, there are better sites out there.

  104. Anonymous Coward
    Badgers

    They're putting it in a foundation?

    Take the money and run lads - don't be idiots.

  105. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Its a CON

    lets be honest, the whole point of TPB was to allow people to download Music, Movies and software without paying for it!

    Why would anyone who uses TPB carry on using the site if you now have to pay?

    Mininova is gimped and now TPB is all but dead, I expect several sites to pop up in thier place!

    $7.7 million for a site with no users! HAHAHA they truely are Pirates!

  106. Jimboom
    Pirate

    It pays to be a pirate

    Just goes to show it pays to be a pirate.... as long as your willing to sell out in the end and hoist your scurvy crew up by their garters and leave them for the officials to hang.

    Unfortunately TPB has always been about impossible ideals. Even now with the buyout. They will never be able to provide the kind of bandwidth across the globe with prices competitive enough to rival physical media. Think about it. Even if they get bandwidth that everyone is happy with what happens when your hard drive dies on you or the install files get deleted by mistake then your left out however much you spent on the software in the first place?

    No, I think if you listen very closely you can hear the bell tolling for TPB..

    R.I.P Pirate Bay.

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