Red Hat, Inc.
Matthew J. Szulik, Chief Executive Officer and President:
"Goldman Sachs research was spot on about Red Hat. The firm came to us with
a keen understanding that we are not a traditional software business but a leader in
creating Internet infrastructure for the 21st century. It also understood that our brand
is our predominant asset and an IPO was an opportunity to reinforce our brand. The
firms passionate belief that we would succeed as the first "open source"
software company to go public was the foundation for a trusting relationship. A central
challenge was to educate the investment community about how a company that freely
distributes its primary productthe Red Hat Linux server operating systemon the
Internet has excellent long-term growth prospects. Working as a closely synchronized team,
we were able to complete one of the most successful IPOs ever within a very tight time
frame in a difficult market for Internet-related offerings. Our relationship has provided
another very important benefit: From top to bottom, we found the people of Goldman Sachs
to be as professional, responsible and respectful as can be imagined. They are always in a
service mode. We view the quality of Goldman Sachs people and the way they work as
benchmarks for developing our own workforce as we grow globally."
- Goldman Sachs served as lead manager for Red Hats $96.6 million IPO.
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