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| [Sep 27, 2005, 5:53 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
Videogame Maker Id Software Rejected Offer From Activision (thanks Bob
Woodward) is a subscription-only article from the Wall Street Journal based on a
lawsuit filed by id software co-owner Adrian Carmack revealing that the artist
and id Software cofounder was recently fired (maybe I'm just the last to learn
this, as his "retirement" is mentioned in his
Wikipedia Bio). Also
revealed in the court filings is that Activision offered id $90 Million last
year for the DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein properties and was considering making
an offer of $105 million for the entire company. The article explains why this
information would come to light in court: "Adrian Carmack claims the decision
not to sell the company was part of an effort to force him to sell his shares
back at a fraction of what he would have made in a sale to Activision. Under
terms of a contract he has asked the court to void, Mr. Carmack would have to
sell his 41% stake in the company for $11 million, below the $40 million he
might have reaped from Activision." It is not clear how Adrian Carmack ended up
41% owner of the privately held company: He was one of its original founders
along with John Carmack (no relation), Kevin Cloud, and John Romero, but since
then Romero parted ways and Todd Hollenshead and Tim Willits were granted
ownership stakes early last year ( story). The article's
conclusion sums up the legal action: "In a filing earlier this month, he claims
the other owners fired him after he refused an offer to be bought out for $20
million. The Activision offer was revealed by a filing by Mr. Carmack seeking to
have his employment contract declared invalid. He contends Id's other owners
rejected the Activision offer so they could acquire his shares as a price below
what they might later fetch." The article reports both id and Activision as
either unwilling or unable to respond.
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69. |
Re: No subject |
Sep 27, 2005, 23:51 |
Zathrus |
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Only because I doubt the Id owners will be getting that kind of money through their own products. They are bing offered 10 times what they made in the year Doom 3 was released. That's a whole lot of cash. Sigh.
So what? It's a lot of cash, yeah. But right now they're making a rather nice bit of cash and they're their own masters. Sell out and you no longer get to do that -- in particular, I bet JC wouldn't be allowed to release older engines under the GPL, because that's not the way most corporations think.
Don't get me wrong -- money is nice. But when you're making enough already, there are other considerations.
Other than JC, is anyone else still left from the Wolfenstein/Doom days?
Oh, and finally -- apparantly a lot of people here haven't worked for small, private companies. It's pretty common for internal shares to have conditions on them that you remain an employee of the company and that you only have a certain amount of time upon leaving/termination to cash out those shares.
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Date |
Subject |
Author |
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1. |
Sep 27, 17:56 |
Damn |
Ray Marden |
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2. |
Sep 27, 17:59 |
Re: Damn |
Parallax Abstraction |
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5. |
Sep 27, 18:05 |
Re: Damn |
Sixis |
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6. |
Sep 27, 18:06 |
Re: Damn |
Parallax Abstraction |
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7. |
Sep 27, 18:08 |
Re: Damn |
Ray Marden |
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3. |
Sep 27, 18:02 |
Re: Damn |
Tumbler |
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8. |
Sep 27, 18:09 |
Re: Damn |
Fartacus |
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9. |
Sep 27, 18:12 |
Re: Damn |
Ray Marden |
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10. |
Sep 27, 18:13 |
Re: Damn |
Parallax Abstraction |
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11. |
Sep 27, 18:16 |
Re: Damn |
Enahs |
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12. |
Sep 27, 18:20 |
Re: Damn |
Gen. Hospital |
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13. |
Sep 27, 18:25 |
Re: Damn |
Masa |
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14. |
Sep 27, 18:27 |
Re: Damn |
TorTorden |
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4. |
Sep 27, 18:04 |
Re: Damn |
nin |
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100. |
Sep 28, 19:36 |
Re: Damn |
FourPak |
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102. |
Sep 28, 20:07 |
Regarding ID & Doom3 |
Zephalephelah |
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112. |
Oct 4, 15:29 |
Re: Damn |
BluestCheese |
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56. |
Sep 27, 22:01 |
Re: Damn |
CR0C0 |
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15. |
Sep 27, 18:34 |
No subject |
Dreagon |
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16. |
Sep 27, 18:34 |
Re: No subject |
Masa |
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17. |
Sep 27, 18:37 |
Wow |
Creston |
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19. |
Sep 27, 18:51 |
Re: Wow |
Ray Marden |
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39. |
Sep 27, 19:53 |
Re: Wow |
Yuzzem |
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36. |
Sep 27, 19:42 |
Re: Wow |
Sixis |
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40. |
Sep 27, 20:03 |
Re: Wow |
wasp |
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44. |
Sep 27, 20:11 |
Re: Wow |
Riley Pizt |
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45. |
Sep 27, 20:11 |
Re: Wow |
Halsy |
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42. |
Sep 27, 20:04 |
Re: Wow |
Riley Pizt |
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18. |
Sep 27, 18:49 |
No subject |
FloppyGrandma |
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20. |
Sep 27, 18:55 |
All about the Benjamins |
venomhed |
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21. |
Sep 27, 19:08 |
Re: All about the Benjamins |
Dreagon |
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22. |
Sep 27, 19:10 |
Sell |
Nibs |
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23. |
Sep 27, 19:14 |
Re: Sell |
random.thought |
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28. |
Sep 27, 19:32 |
Re: Sell |
SFLUFAN |
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29. |
Sep 27, 19:33 |
Re: Sell |
Parallax Abstraction |
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31. |
Sep 27, 19:34 |
Re: Sell |
Fantaz |
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43. |
Sep 27, 20:07 |
Re: Sell |
Riley Pizt |
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24. |
Sep 27, 19:18 |
Re: All about the Benjamins |
theyarecomingforyou |
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26. |
Sep 27, 19:29 |
Re: All about the Benjamins |
Masa |
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30. |
Sep 27, 19:33 |
Re: All about the Benjamins |
Halsy |
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32. |
Sep 27, 19:38 |
Re: All about the Benjamins |
random.thought |
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34. |
Sep 27, 19:42 |
Re: All about the Benjamins |
Fantaz |
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25. |
Sep 27, 19:23 |
Masters Of Doom |
Awesome Spume |
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27. |
Sep 27, 19:31 |
HL2 |
venomhed |
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33. |
Sep 27, 19:40 |
Fantz |
venomhed |
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35. |
Sep 27, 19:42 |
Correction |
venomhed |
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37. |
Sep 27, 19:48 |
Survivor |
venomhed |
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38. |
Sep 27, 19:52 |
Re: Survivor |
trog |
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46. |
Sep 27, 20:15 |
Re: Survivor |
Riley Pizt |
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41. |
Sep 27, 20:04 |
Right... |
venomhed |
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47. |
Sep 27, 20:22 |
Sad |
The Raven |
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48. |
Sep 27, 20:59 |
Re: Sad |
JediPunisher |
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49. |
Sep 27, 21:00 |
An old, OldManMurray quote |
cappy |
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50. |
Sep 27, 21:02 |
BUUUURN THEM!! |
Hump |
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51. |
Sep 27, 21:25 |
Maybe... |
c r i s p y |
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52. |
Sep 27, 21:26 |
I call shenanigans |
Skoll |
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53. |
Sep 27, 21:35 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
Overon |
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54. |
Sep 27, 21:39 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
Beamer |
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55. |
Sep 27, 21:43 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
Krovven |
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57. |
Sep 27, 22:02 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
FloppyGrandma |
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58. |
Sep 27, 22:06 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
Krovven |
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60. |
Sep 27, 22:13 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
Sepharo |
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61. |
Sep 27, 22:32 |
Re: I call shenanigans |
CitizenBane |
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59. |
Sep 27, 22:10 |
No subject |
FloppyGrandma |
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62. |
Sep 27, 22:40 |
No subject |
kurly-q |
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63. |
Sep 27, 22:50 |
Re: No subject |
Beamer |
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64. |
Sep 27, 23:00 |
Re: No subject |
Enahs |
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65. |
Sep 27, 23:12 |
Re: No subject |
Tehol |
>> |
69. |
Sep 27, 23:51 |
Re: No subject |
Zathrus |
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70. |
Sep 28, 00:03 |
Re: No subject |
mystery8 |
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71. |
Sep 28, 00:13 |
Re: No subject |
Prez |
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73. |
Sep 28, 00:38 |
Re: No subject |
BicycleRepairMan |
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77. |
Sep 28, 01:17 |
Re: No subject |
Prez |
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83. |
Sep 28, 07:26 |
Re: No subject |
Agrajag |
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85. |
Sep 28, 09:19 |
Re: No subject |
Spektr |
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86. |
Sep 28, 09:37 |
Re: No subject |
Zathrus |
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87. |
Sep 28, 10:04 |
Re: No subject |
Heather |
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88. |
Sep 28, 10:36 |
Re: No subject |
mojo |
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89. |
Sep 28, 10:45 |
Re: No subject |
LOL@U |
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90. |
Sep 28, 11:14 |
Re: No subject |
Pedle Zelnip |
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91. |
Sep 28, 11:21 |
Re: No subject |
Warhawk |
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92. |
Sep 28, 11:26 |
Re: No subject |
Heather |
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93. |
Sep 28, 11:50 |
Re: No subject |
Beamer |
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94. |
Sep 28, 13:18 |
Re: No subject |
Creston |
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95. |
Sep 28, 13:43 |
Re: No subject |
Beamer |
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98. |
Sep 28, 16:41 |
Re: No subject |
Riley Pizt |
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96. |
Sep 28, 14:30 |
Re: No subject |
Tango |
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97. |
Sep 28, 16:40 |
Re: No subject |
MeatForce |
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74. |
Sep 28, 00:41 |
Re: No subject |
MeatForce |
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76. |
Sep 28, 00:57 |
Re: No subject |
Ray Marden |
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82. |
Sep 28, 04:21 |
Re: No subject |
Riley Pizt |
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72. |
Sep 28, 00:23 |
Re: No subject |
Masa |
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75. |
Sep 28, 00:52 |
Re: No subject |
Zathrus |
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84. |
Sep 28, 09:17 |
Re: No subject |
kurly-q |
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66. |
Sep 27, 23:25 |
No subject |
Masa |
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79. |
Sep 28, 01:31 |
Re: No subject |
Beamer |
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80. |
Sep 28, 03:27 |
Re: No subject |
Bill Nakano |
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99. |
Sep 28, 17:50 |
Re: No subject |
Masa |
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106. |
Sep 29, 18:44 |
We don't need no stinking degrees |
Rockn-Roll |
|
107. |
Sep 29, 18:48 |
Re: We don't need no stinking degrees |
MacD |
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108. |
Sep 29, 19:20 |
Re: We don't need no stinking degrees |
Rockn-Roll |
|
109. |
Sep 30, 13:30 |
Re: We don't need no stinking degrees |
Of Rock Star Fame |
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110. |
Oct 3, 21:37 |
Re: We don't need no stinking degrees |
Gandhi |
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111. |
Oct 4, 00:09 |
Re: We don't need no stinking degrees |
Celestial Toad |
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67. |
Sep 27, 23:32 |
Re: |
Rseman |
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68. |
Sep 27, 23:33 |
Blah |
mystery8 |
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78. |
Sep 28, 01:30 |
No subject |
sponge |
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81. |
Sep 28, 03:40 |
No relation? |
John |
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101. |
Sep 28, 20:02 |
Half Life |
The Raven |
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103. |
Sep 28, 21:28 |
Re: Half Life |
Riley Pizt |
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104. |
Sep 28, 21:29 |
Re: Half Life |
Riley Pizt |
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105. |
Sep 29, 02:05 |
No subject |
MacD |
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