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Micro Focus Sells SUSE Linux to EQT Partners

July 2, 2018

By Joe Panettieri

Credit: Getty Images

EQT Partners is acquiring SUSE Linux from struggling Micro Focus International for $2.535 billion, the companies confirmed this morning.

SUSE Linux competes most directly against Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The company has been acquired and sold multiple times over the past decade. The timeline includes:

Novell acquired SUSE for $210 million in cash back in 2003.

Attachmate acquired Novell and SUSE for $2.2 billion in 2010.

Micro Focus acquired SUSE as part of the Novell/Attachmate buyout in 2014.

Fast forward to present day, and Micro Focus has been struggling under the weight of the more recent HP Enterprise software business acquisition. The company's stock collapsed earlier this year amid weak earnings and a CEO change.

By selling off the SUSE Linux business, Micro Focus plans to pay down debt and return some of the sum to shareholders.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.