BREAKING NEWS: Linden Lab Has Been "Acquired By Investment Group"

In a surprise move, earlier today Linden Lab announced in a press release on its website that it was now under the ownership of investors, with Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager as it's leaders.

 Linden Research, Inc. announced today it signed an agreement to be acquired by an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager. Closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval by financial regulators in the U.S. related to Tilia Inc.’s status as a licensed money transmitter as well as other customary closing conditions. Upon closing, Mr. Waterfield and Mr. Oberwager will join the Board of Directors of Linden Research, Inc.

Randy Waterfield is described in his Linkedin page as "the Chairman of Waterfield Group, a diversified financial services holding company" with holdings in "technology, real estate, and asset management." The man is also described as a member of Mensa and a graduate of Harvard. He also worked at Goldman Sachs as an asset manager.

Bradford Oberwager  had this to say in his LinkedIn, "I have founded and/or run five tech/CPG companies—Jyve, Bare Snacks (acquired by PepsiCo), True & Good! Snacks, Acumins/more.com (acquired by HealthCentral), and Blue Tiger/Open Webs (acquired by CarParts). Of course, I founded more than these five, but I have had my share of failures as well. Learned a lot from them. These companies were built in partnership with spectacular executive teams and based on strong cultures. My father always said, 'The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.' At each of these companies, our 'main thing' is culture. We are obsessed with it. These teams believe diversity of thought is essential to success and understand with diversity comes conflict, which we wholeheartedly embrace. We have complete trust—in each other and in the certainty that in working through the conflict in a healthy way, we’re going to get someplace good."

The press release did quote Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab, as saying, "I’ve known Brad for 14 years personally and professionally, and I’m confident he will bring his passion and proven strategies to help Linden Lab achieve new heights in distribution, scale, and quality while remaining true to the original vision, creativity, and community that makes Second Life unique and special.” So the Lab is trying to put a positive spin on the change.

It's too soon to tell what effect this change will have on Second Life. But there's already discussion brewing about it, in various groups inworld and a thread in the official forums. Do you have any comments? Feel free to leave them below.

Stay tuned for more information on this breaking news.

Bixyl Shuftan