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back to article Private billion buck HPC player? You're going to have to go public - and SOON

We heard a whisper that Big Data player DataDirect Networks (DDN) was thinking of going public, although marketing CEO and co-founder [Alex Bouzari recently batted the suggestion away, saying merely that it would "probably make sense at some point in the future". But regardless of the company's intentions, the question remains …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    why do they have to go public?

    Is it to take Dell's place in the stock markets?

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    1. Don Jefe
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      Re: why do they have to go public?

      Because the founders want to make the big bucks. Without an IPO executives will only draw a salary + any bonuses: No huge payout.

      Then there's the VC's who generally want a 10x return in 5-8 years.

      Also they've probably given out many stock options as awards for employee performance and for retention and sooner or later those recipients are going to start leveraging their internal clout & pushing for an IPO.

      An IPO is the only way to generate that much cash.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No need

    About the only driving force DDN would have for going public is for the founders to cash out and move on to something else. With the profits they're making, they could easily pay back any VC money they received. The technology they have requires no massive influx of cash to continue innovating. But if they're making $300+million/year, the founders are already banking so much cash the only thing that would likely move them to go public is boredom with the company.

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    1. Assumed Name
      Reply Icon

      Re: No need

      ...and about the only thing that could make a ball roll down a hill is gravity.

      DDN will go public, or they will go out of business/get acquired.

      DDN will not become the next In-n-Out.

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