ExpressVPN bought for $1bn by Brit biz with an intriguing history in adware

UK-headquartered Kape Technologies announced on Monday it has acquired ExpressVPN in a $936m (£675m) cash and stocks deal, a move it claims will double its customer base to at least six million. In a canned statement, Kape said combining the two companies would "create a premium consumer privacy and security player," and that …

[Anonymous Coward]

leopards and spots

something about leopards and spots comes to mind for some reason?

[Kane]

Re: leopards and spots

"something about leopards and spots comes to mind for some reason?"

A leopard can't change its shorts.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: leopards and spots

No, but it can eat yours.

Where is the Bart Simpson icon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: leopards and spots

+1 for Discworld quote.

[devin3782]

Re: leopards and spots

Beware the leopard?

[Michael Hoffmann]

This is fine!

With a last name like Erlichman, which is after all German for "honest man", I see no reason to doubt them!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This is fine!

Nobody who speaks german could possibly be evil!

[Lars]

More like a Sponsored article

"generally known for being one of the best"

"to form the global leader in digital privacy.", with six million users.

[JDPower666]

Re: More like a Sponsored article

Careful, that's the sort of insinuation that gets you banned on here.

[Anonymous Coward]

ExpressVPN is generally known for being one of the best VPN providers

is it your opinion, or a statement supported by numerous, independent sources?

[Version 1.0]

Re: ExpressVPN is generally known for being one of the best VPN providers

The ExpressVPN devices are very reliable.

[newspuppy]

Follow the Money...

So.. doubling user base to 6 Million... Implies they are buying 3 Million users.. at a cost of $300/user.

ok..

Now calculate revenue and profit that these users may bring....

"most popular plan" is $100/year for ExpressVPN VPN service... so.. Kape Technologies is paying 3* GROSS ANNUAL REVENUE .

How can this make sense? They can watch all your traffic (so much easier with a VPN) and build up profiles.. that they can sell adverts to....

Tragic....

[Lotaresco]

Oh c*ck. I like ExpressVPN because it's easy to use on my laptop when travelling and using public WiFi access points. I suspect my paranoia will now cause me to go elsewhere.

[Anonymous Coward]

All your vpns are belonging to us now

[katrinab]

I run my own VPN at home.

But then I generally want to access resources on my home network, so that is the only way to do it.

[Anonymous Coward]

From the article

"We can well imagine the use of VPNs around the world has grown with the COVID-era surge in time spent stuck at home online as folks seek to swerve geo-blocking and so on."

Swerve geo-blocking. An interesting way of spelling "find new sources of porn".

[katrinab]

Re: From the article

Is porn geo-blocked? I thought it was more things like BBC iPlayer and its equivalents in other countries?

[Adelio]

Beware

Reasonably satisfied with the service BUTTTTTT

If Express VPN starts flinging adverts then I will be flinging Express VPN down the toilet.

My ONLY complaint has been with it's use with my Synology NAS. I Have to drop and reconnect the VPN connection every few days as it just dies.

[Snorlax]

Hmmm

It appears that one of the head honchos of ExpressVPN, Daniel Gericke, may be the same Daniel Gericke who was charged by US authorities today for hacking US citizens on behalf of the UAE government.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-spying-raven/

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.235544/gov.uscourts.dcd.235544.1.0.pdf

https://github.com/expressvpn-dan-g

https://twitter.com/msuiche/status/1222168162361278464

[Twilight]

Well, I really hope this is on the up-and-up. My ExpressVPN annual subscription literally renewed 1-2 weeks ago...

[julian.smith]

Hope springs eternal

"I really hope this is on the up-and-up."

Brace yourself

LMAO

[PapaD]

I'm guessing i may be switching VPN provider too

I'm half way through my current subscription - renews April 2022, so i'll give them until then, before making my decision.

[Sub 20 Pilot]

Meme merde, jour difference.

I am not an IT tech in any way but I would say that in general, any small successful outfit has a potential few years to become really good at what they do. Then the arseholes and parasites buy them out and either kill them off as potential competitors or turn them into a bag of useless shite.

Anything bought up by Google, MS or FB will suffer this fate. Fucking parasites the lot of them.

Very sad.