The Pirate Bay Sells Out

Arrrgh! This isn’t very Piratey… The Pirate Bay has been sold to Global Gaming Factory. And they want to respect copyright holders and go legit. Well, that’s the end of their awesomeness …. Pirate Bay illegal downloads have walked the plank, to live forever in Davy Jones’s locker.

”The Pirate Bay is a site that is among the top 100 most visited Internet sites in the
world. However, in order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business
model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content
providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary. Content creators
and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers ´need
faster downloads and better quality, ” continues Hans Pandeya.
GGF acquires domain names and related web sites, including
http://www.thepiratebay.org. The consideration for the purchase amounts to MSEK
60 consisting of at least MSEK 30 in cash and up to the equivalent of MSEK 30 in
the form of newly issued shares in GGF (according to valuation in connection with
the completion of the acquisition). The stock share of the purchase price is
expected to be equivalent to a maximum of three per cent of the total number of
outstanding shares of GGF after the acquisition. In the case that three percent of
the shares is not equivalent to 30 MSEK, the major shareholder of GGF has
declared that he will contribute the equivalent in cash.
GGF has entered into an agreement to acquire the shares in Peerialism AB.
Peerialism AB is a software technology company with its origin in KTH Royal
Institute of Technology and SICS, Swedish Institute of Computer Science and
which presently is owned by the employees. The owners as well as the employees
will continue to work for the company. Peerialism develops solutions for data
distribution and distributed storage based on new p2p- technology. The access to
the technology is secured by the acquisition. The consideration amounts to in
aggregate MSEK 100 consisting of at least MSEK 50 in cash and up to the
equivalent of MSEK 50 in newly issued shares in GGF (according to valuation
during a period of ten days after the announcement). The share part of the
purchase price should not exceed five percent of the total number of shares in
GGF after the transaction. In addition GGF has undertaken to make initial
investments of MSEK 25 in the acquired business.
“Peerialism has developed a new data distribution technology which now can be
introduced on the best known file – sharing site, The Pirate Bay. Since the
technology is compatible with the existing it will quickly allow for new values to be
created for all key stakeholders and facilitate new business opportunities”, says
Johan Ljungberg, CEO Peerialism.
Completion of the acquisitions are primarily subject to GGF obtaining financing for
the acquisition, that any necessary resolutions are adopted by a General Meeting
of GGF, and that GGF and the Board of Directors consider that the acquired
assets can be used in a legally and appropriate way. GGF intends to issue new
shares in order to obtain the necessary financing for the acquisition. The
acquisition is deemed to be completed in August 2009. In connection therewith,
the ownership of, and responsibility for, the acquired assets will be transferred to
GGF.
“As a result of the acquisitions of The Pirate Bay and Peerialism, GGF will have a
strategic position in the international digital distribution market. File sharing traffic
is estimated to account for more than half of today’s global Internet traffic. The
Pirate Bay has a global brand and holds a key position with over 20 million visitors
and over one billion page views per month,” says Hans Pandeya.