Comments for Pirate Bay Acquired for $7.8 million, Content Providers to Get Paid

Pirate Bay Acquired for $7.8 million, Content Providers to Get Paid

2009-06-30T11:14:34Z

According to their blog and a recent BusinessWire release, controversial Swedish bit torrent tracker the Pirate Bay, is being acquired by Global Gaming Factory X AB for roughly $7.8 million in cash and shares (or $60 million SEK).

On the blog, the group hopes to alleviate concerns by saying:
"If the new owners screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That's the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want it to. And - you can now not only share files, but shares, with people. Everybody can indeed be the owner of The Pirate Bay now. That's awesome and will take the heat off us."

]]> And the heat has certainly been on The Pirate Bay. For the last year, the group has been in and out of court battles and has continued to take a strong stance against legal threats regarding copyright violations.

Judging by blog comments, it's obvious that users are extremely concerned. Global Gaming Factory will be taking over operation of the site in August 2009. As part of this acquisition, GGF can now incorporate the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and SICS, Swedish Institute of Computer Science's new data distribution technology - Peerialism. Presumably the service will increase torrent speeds.

Additionally, says GGF CEO, Hans Pandeya, "We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site."

It will be interesting to see if fans will stick with the service and how the company's revenue program will differ from predecessors like Grooveshark's compensation service for file uploaders.

Thanks to Steven for the tip!

UPDATE: According to TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay will be using a 3rd party tracker and host for torrents. We'll just have to wait and see if this has to do with GGF's move with Peerialism.

Comment from kehn Tagalog on 2011-03-28

2011-03-28T19:53:54Z

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Comment from tracyfaust on 2011-03-24

2011-03-24T13:53:27Z

Really that is pretty shocking..but still they did best for themselves..
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Comment from Angie Parish on 2011-02-07

2011-02-07T12:19:18Z

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Comment from janstump on 2010-12-20

2010-12-20T15:32:35Z

well hopefully they will get benefit also its just a change of luck to get such a lump sum...
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Comment from janstump on 2010-12-20

2010-12-20T15:27:04Z

Wow .. thats a huge amount to get just by selling their domain name
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Comment from Charlie M on 2010-03-04

2010-03-04T16:25:19Z

Hopefully it works out for all of their employees.

Comment from Small Business Man on 2010-02-17

2010-02-17T09:26:22Z

Wow-That's a hefty amount of cash...

Comment from DannyS on 2010-02-05

2010-02-06T05:42:05Z

napster part 2 all over again...

Comment from Dmitry on 2009-08-30

2009-08-31T01:56:14Z

What is one of the main revenue streams for GGF? They help gaming companies sell licenses to internet cafes where GGF has their software installed (that's more than 200,000 computers around the world). Now, if they acquired the biggest torrent site that lists thousands of cracked games, what is going to happen?

I think 3 things:
1) They'll just shut it down. The US exports of software in 2007 was 60 Bln usd. That's just exports. If I was from BFA I'd also pay 6 Mln bucks for TPB – it's less than 0.1% of my market...
2) They'll offer their clients to erase all torrent files featuring their software for an extra fee or as a part of the deal when they sell their licenses to internet cafes.
3) They'll do something crazy and use the 200,000 computers that work under their software to host torrent files because the software companies will finally realize that the real money is in servicing, not selling the software.

Comment from Internet Marketing Business on 2009-07-10

2009-07-10T15:42:12Z

first i want to say to pirate bay...for make my life is easier. Fantastic price...

Comment from VoteTheDay on 2009-07-01

2009-07-02T03:25:20Z

Vote on the future of The Pirate Bay you would like to see! http://www.votetheday.com/pirate-bay/the-future-of-the-pirate-bay-413/

Comment from Chrystal K. on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T22:39:53Z

I read an article about this. Apparently, users are deleting their accounts like crazy.

Comment from Ronk on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T17:02:55Z

Nothing illegal about selling a domain name. It is what they do with it once they own it that matters.

Goodbye PirateBay. It's been fun while it lasted.

Comment from Chris R on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T17:00:46Z

All they really did was sell a domain name. They have given a lot over the past few years; including their freedom. The least we can do is to wish them luck.

besides; their are plenty of other torrent sites out there.

Comment from Aaron Whitaker on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T14:06:57Z

How can something that seems illegal or at least not completely legit be sold legitimately and legally? If Pirate Bay can sell it's torrent site for $7.8 million, then Madoff's ponzi scheme must be worth billions. He should sell it.

Comment from Coheed on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T13:51:03Z

This guy on reddit claims to be the co-founder of TPB and says it's not as bad as it sounds.

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8wwkp/they_they_sold_the_pirate_bay/c0aow1t

Comment from Alex on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T13:42:06Z

The 4,6 million euros is actually 6.4 million dollars. At least in my country and I'm pretty sure it's the same rate in the whole Europe.

Comment from Flashy on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T13:26:02Z

TPB sold eh? Nice chunk of change they got for it. Time to reinvest 25% of it in another venture and invest the rest safely.

Good luck fellas.

Comment from David Catalano on 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T13:11:45Z

I cannot believe this is true. If it is then I am shocked.