Beamer wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 11:47:
Even thinking beyond this, why do private companies get acquired?
1) The owners want out (retire, start something new, etc.)
2) The owners want to cash out while the price is high (I think this is part of why Epic sold - it gives the aging owners liquidity they really haven't had over it's 20someodd years)
3) They need capital and need it badly

Well, we don't think Gabe is going anywhere, so 1 is out. He's already independently wealthy and probably drawing a huge salary, so I would guess 2 is out. And they are stupidly profitable, so 3 is out.

We don't even need to speculate on why they'd choose this particular company - there's no real need for them to sell at all.