Pictured: Linden Lab headquarters in San Francisco
Lots of reader comments over news that Linden Research is being bought by an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager, ranging from "sky is falling" panic to bullishness. Some samples, starting with the bullish:
Oh, that was masterfully executed…
1) Dump the bottomless pit of wasted money that was Sansar;
2) Spin-off Tilia (just as eBay did with PayPal);
3) Move everything into the cloud (i.e. better infrastructure — no CPUs will be idle on empty regions — for a fraction of the cost), which allows extra available cash (can be turned in more profits, more staff, both, etc.);
4) Get acquired by a very long-standing, solid company that follows the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought, which has famously been adopted by Warren Buffet.I'd say the future looks bright! 🙂
… then again, I'm known to be the eternal optimist.
Once this new [investment] group looks at SL with a fine toothed comb, and they most definitely will as they will want to know exactly what they're dealing with, they're most likely to scrap SL and go strictly with Tilla. They will most certainly not want SL tainting their portfolios due to all the adult, sexual and pedo content it has. Not only that, but all the copyright infringement (Marvel/DC/Anime/Disney/Louis Vuitton and other fashion brand logos/Major Sport Leagues like MLB, NBA, NFL/etc.) going on as well as the DMCA problems creators have to deal with (IE – Genus Project getting slapped with a second DMCA in as many weeks). In fact, if any of those companies I just listed found out that SL was allowing copyright infringement to occur, there would be cease and desist letters, or even lawsuits against LL as if it were the end of the world.
It is going to happen folks, this group is going to look at their acquisition with a microscope (books, SL, Tilla… everything) and ultimately focus on Tilla. Ebbe can deflect all he wants, but if I know most groups like the Waterfield Group, they're main goal is asset liquidation.
I'm sure SL's adult content and copyright infringement issues were brought up during the due diligence done before one company acquires another, as was the ongoing wrongful termination lawsuit. At the same time, I could see Linden's new owners demanding more regulation and enforcement of infringing/obscene content. It's also quite possible the new owners simply sell off SL rather than deal with those headaches, and focus on growing Tilia.
Reader Pulsar also sees Tilia emerging as the victor as Second Life continues its almost inevitable decline:
Second Life is a low risk investment: not only the virtual world has a working economy already, but it is operating since many years and SL has a solid hardcore user-base that will remain there for long.
This investment group has long term plans. On one hand, Tilla is a service that is not so useful without SL, but it has potential and it could be extended; on the other hand, SL usage has a little surge now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's obviously [temporary] and on the long term SL will continue to decline.
So Tilla may add value if you are looking at a long term investment, with the option to become the main focus eventually.
I do think there's still several ways to revive SL and growing it — but they would cost a lot of money. And it remains to be seen whether Linden Lab's new owners are willing to make that investment.
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 
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