• A1kmm@lemmy.amxl.comEnglish
    23·
    8 months ago

    I always thought of Raspberry Pi as a not-for-profit and supported it on that basis. If the model was supposed to be like Mozilla where they have a not-for-profit and a corporation that is wholly owned by the not-for-profit, then it seems like selling out the corporation to for-profit investors runs contrary to the goals of the not-for-profit. Does anyone know why they are allowing the corporation to be sold off?

    • ijeff@lemdro.id
      OPEnglish
      22·
      8 months ago

      I found this interesting in the comments:

      Hmm, Raspberry Pi Ltd. joins RISC-V group (Jan 2019). Raspberry Pi Ltd. releases Rpi5 with a unified Rpi1 I/O chip (Oct 2023) freeing them from being tied to a particular SoC family. ARM Ltd. invests in Raspberry Pi Ltd. (Nov 2023). Hmmm… Really seems like a “here’s some cash, stay ARM.”

      Can you imagine the marketing impact of a RISC-V RPi board after all these years of it being ARM based? Sure, the number of boards effected isn’t huge, but it’s the marketing impact of losing a flagship product that needs to be considered.

      Source: https://www.anandtech.com/comments/21120/arm-acquires-minority-stake-in-raspberry-pi/790281

    • burningmatches@feddit.ukEnglish
      14·
      8 months ago

      It’s not being sold off. It’s an investment. Raspberry Pi has suffered from supply shortages that could be mitigated by entering into a partnership with Arm — and which would help further its charitable goals. Sales were down by more than a quarter in 2022 due to shortages.

      And Arm isn’t the only minority shareholder. Sony, which manufactures its boards in Wales, also owns a stake.

      These aren’t unusual commercial decisions to secure manufacturing and supply, and therefore maximise the dividend it pays to the foundation, while retaining majority control.