Creston wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 14:48:
Does anyone know what the actual ownership picture is at Valve? Is it just Gabe and a few other guys that own everything, or have they allowed their long-time employees to get part ownership? Does Valve even HAVE shares?

creston

Beamer wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 14:13:

Gadzooks wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 13:45:
On one hand, selling would probably let a few suits walk away with a LOT of cash

On the other hand, the handful of people who had a role in the decision would be directly responsible for destroying the digital game sales industry as a whole.

Given that it's Valve, I'd assume that mostly everyone would walk away with a LOT of cash.

NewMaxx wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 13:26:
No, what he said was, he would let the company die before being sold to "some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate." That is carefully worded to allow for many things, such as mergers on his terms. It's an important distinction to be made, although I still do an "lolwut" in reaction to this particular news tidbit.

Gadzooks wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 13:45:
On one hand, selling would probably let a few suits walk away with a LOT of cash

On the other hand, the handful of people who had a role in the decision would be directly responsible for destroying the digital game sales industry as a whole.

deqer wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 10:42:
He already said he has NO INTEREST in selling the company.

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.

jdwohlever wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 10:34:
I hope to God this never happens. Steam is perfect the way it is. We don't need some money hungry foreign company coming in and destroying what Valve has done. Leave Steam alone.

Creston wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 10:56:

jdwohlever wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 10:34:
I hope to God this never happens. Steam is perfect the way it is. We don't need some money hungry foreign company coming in and destroying what Valve has done. Leave Steam alone.

Isn't Steam a separate entity? They may just be talking about merging Valve with Nexon, and then splitting Steam off entirely.

But I fail to see why Valve, with its completely untraditional no-managers set-up, would merge with a Korean publisher, which is 100% purely manager driven. It's like saying that Chrysler is interested in merging with the Home Depot. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Creston

Creston wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 10:56:
But I fail to see why Valve, with its completely untraditional no-managers set-up, would merge with a Korean publisher, which is 100% purely manager driven. It's like saying that Chrysler is interested in merging with the Home Depot. It makes no sense whatsoever.

jdwohlever wrote on Sep 27, 2012, 10:34:
I hope to God this never happens. Steam is perfect the way it is. We don't need some money hungry foreign company coming in and destroying what Valve has done. Leave Steam alone.