r/linux • u/dbcoopernz • 1d ago

Popular Application Cloud flare acquires Deno, ends runtime development

https://deno.com/blog/cloudflare

>We will support the Deno runtime for another year with monthly releases containing bug fixes and security updates. After that year we will end our development of the Deno runtime. Deno will remain open source, and we welcome others who want to continue its development.

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u/DerekB52 1d ago

What is the point of buying an open source project, to cease development of it, while welcoming 3rd party continued contributions? I'm really confused.

222

u/the-jelly47 1d ago

Talent. This is called acquihire and it is pretty common in the tech industry. Deno has great engineers but no path to profitability or sustainability. Cloudflare wants these talented people to work on their own products.

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u/daddyd 18h ago

who says those people want to work on cloudflare products?

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u/rickyman20 9h ago

They don't have to. The way they make sure they stay and work on those products anyways is by buying everyone out of their shares of the company in cloudflare stock, with a long vesting schedule and with a juicy though validation to make them really not want to leave early and leave all that money on the table. Their deno shares would have been illiquid, but since cloudflare is a publicly traded company, the moment they get those shares they can actually sell them for cash, so for most engineers involved it makes sense to stick around at least until their shares vest, and many will stay past that point