Swedish IT company to buy Pirate Bay

[joeblow]

Swedish IT company to buy Pirate Bay

http://www.thelocal.se/20364/20090630/

The Pirate Bay is set to be purchased for 60 million kronor ($7.8 million) by Global Gaming Factory X (GGF), a company specializing in internet café management software, the company announced on Tuesday.

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GGF is listed on the Aktietorget stock exchange, a Sweden-based exchange in operation since 2007 which focuses on start-up companies.

The company is set to pay 60 million kronor for the popular file sharing site's domain name, thepiratebay.org, including 30 million kronor in cash, GGF said in a statement.

At the same time, GGF has also purchased Peerialism, a small IT company with roots at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science, which has developed a new file sharing technology.

"Peerialism has developed a new data distribution technology which now can be introduced on the best known file - sharing site, The Pirate Bay. Since the technology is compatible with the existing it will quickly allow for new values to be created for all key stakeholders and facilitate new business opportunities", said Peerialism CEO Johan Ljungberg in a statement.

GGF is to pay 100 million kronor, including 50 million in cash, for Peerialism.

"As a result of the acquisitions of The Pirate Bay and Peerialism, GGF will have a strategic position in the international digital distribution market," said GGF CEO Hans Pandeya in a statement.

"File sharing traffic is estimated to account for more than half of today's global Internet traffic. The Pirate Bay has a global brand and holds a key position with over 20 million visitors and over one billion page views per month."

A number of conditions must be realized before the deal is completed however, including an assessment by the GGF board that "that the acquired assets can be used in a legal and appropriate way".

Nevertheless, the company hopes to see the deal completed in August, allowing GGF to move push forward with a new business model for digital distribution "which makes it possible to compensate content providers and copyright holders".

"We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site," said Pandeya.

David Landes (mailto:david.landes@thelocal.se">david.landes@thelocal.se/+46 8 656 6518)