Red Hat

Red Hat is an American enterprise software company whose products and services commercialize open-source technologies for businesses, governments, and other large organizations. The company is best known for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), a commercially supported Linux operating system used across physical servers, virtual machines, public clouds, edge systems, and high-performance computing environments. Its portfolio has expanded well beyond Linux to include OpenShift, an enterprise Kubernetes and application platform; Ansible Automation Platform; middleware and application-development technologies associated with JBoss; storage; virtualization; identity management; cloud management; consulting; training; and technical support. The company traces its origins to two related businesses. In 1993, Bob Young incorporated ACC Corporation, a catalog company selling Linux and Unix software and accessories. In 1994, programmer Marc Ewing released his own Linux distribution, Red Hat Linux. Young acquired Ewing's business in 1995, and the operations were combined as Red Hat Software, with Young becoming chief executive. The name Red Hat was associated with a red Cornell University lacrosse cap that Ewing wore while studying at Carnegie Mellon University. Red Hat helped establish a commercial model for free and open-source software. Rather than relying primarily on proprietary license fees, it combined openly developed code with quality assurance, certification, predictable release and maintenance policies, paid subscriptions, technical support, training, consulting, and integration services. Customers generally purchase access to tested software repositories, lifecycle commitments, security updates, management tools, and support levels rather than simply buying a copy of source code. This model allowed Red Hat to participate in open-source communities while building a recurring enterprise business around operational reliability and accountability. Red Hat became a public company in 1999 and grew through both organic development and acquisitions. Important additions included Cygnus Solutions, which brought expertise in commercial support for free software and GNU toolchains; JBoss, which expanded the company into enterprise middleware; Qumranet, associated with the KVM virtualization project; Ansible, which strengthened automation; and CoreOS, which added cloud-native and container expertise. Other acquisitions and technology integrations broadened Red Hat's capabilities in directory services, application platforms, data integration, systems integration, storage, and cloud management. Its strategic focus shifted progressively from a Linux-centered business toward hybrid cloud and distributed application infrastructure. OpenShift became a central platform for deploying and managing containerized workloads across customer data centers and multiple public clouds. Red Hat also supports upstream communities and projects including Fedora, the Linux kernel, GNOME, systemd, Ceph, Keycloak, and other open-source technologies. Fedora serves as a community-oriented project and an important source of innovation connected to the broader Red Hat ecosystem. IBM announced an agreement to acquire Red Hat in October 2018 for approximately $34 billion. The transaction closed on July 9, 2019, after regulatory review. Red Hat continued to operate as an independent subsidiary within IBM, while the acquisition made its hybrid-cloud software a major component of IBM's broader cloud strategy. Red Hat remains headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and serves customers internationally through direct operations, partners, cloud marketplaces, training organizations, and systems integrators. Its current positioning emphasizes open hybrid cloud, interoperability, portability, security, and enterprise-grade support for open technologies.

Red Hat began in the early 1990s as two connected efforts to make Linux accessible to users who wanted packaged software and practical support. Bob Young incorporated ACC Corporation in 1993 as a catalog business selling Linux and Unix software accessories. Marc Ewing created and distributed Red Hat Linux in 1994. The distribution's name was linked to a red Cornell University lacrosse cap that Ewing wore while studying at Carnegie Mellon University. Young acquired Ewing's business in 1995, and the two operations were merged into Red Hat Software, with Young as chief executive. The company initially built recognition around Red Hat Linux and its relationship with the growing free-software community. In contrast with conventional proprietary software vendors, Red Hat distributed software whose source code could be studied and modified, then monetized the surrounding enterprise requirements: packaging, testing, updates, documentation, support, training, and integration. Its 1999 acquisition of Cygnus Solutions brought experienced commercial free-software developers and maintainers of GNU tools into the organization. Red Hat also made a series of smaller acquisitions in areas such as networking, security, application infrastructure, and software management. Red Hat became a public company in August 1999. Matthew Szulik succeeded Bob Young as chief executive later that year, while Young subsequently founded Lulu. In 2002 the company moved its headquarters from Durham to North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus in Raleigh. That same period saw the introduction of Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, later renamed Red Hat Enterprise Linux. RHEL provided a more stable, certified, and supported platform for corporate and government customers. Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle were among the companies that announced support for the platform, helping Linux gain legitimacy in enterprise computing. The company's scope broadened substantially during the 2000s. Red Hat acquired JBoss in 2006, making enterprise middleware a major business area. It subsequently added technologies in data integration, service-oriented architecture, systems integration, virtualization, and application development. The company also supported projects such as Fedora, GNOME, PulseAudio, systemd, and KVM. Its open-source participation was not limited to products sold under the Red Hat name: engineers contributed to upstream communities, while Red Hat used community projects as sources of innovation and as foundations for commercially supported offerings. During the 2010s Red Hat expanded from operating systems toward cloud and distributed infrastructure. It developed products for storage, management, virtualization, automation, and middleware, acquired Ansible in 2015, and acquired CoreOS in 2018. OpenShift became a strategic platform for deploying containerized applications and managing Kubernetes-based environments. The company's business model increasingly centered on subscriptions that bundled software access, lifecycle management, security updates, support, training, and professional services. In fiscal 2012, Red Hat became the first open-source company reported to exceed $1 billion in annual revenue; it passed $2 billion in 2015 and was approaching $3 billion in annual revenue by early 2018. IBM announced its intention to buy Red Hat on October 28, 2018, for approximately $34 billion. The transaction was reviewed by regulators and closed on July 9, 2019. Red Hat retained its brand, leadership structure, product identity, and operating independence as an IBM subsidiary, while becoming a foundation of IBM's hybrid-cloud strategy. The post-acquisition portfolio continued to emphasize RHEL, OpenShift, Ansible, middleware, storage, automation, and consulting. Red Hat has also participated in social and technical initiatives outside its main commercial portfolio. Its engineers worked with the One Laptop per Child initiative, whose later XO-4 device used a customized Fedora-based operating system. The company produced Opensource.com from 2010 as a publication examining open-source ideas in software and in areas such as education, government, law, and business. Red Hat has nevertheless faced criticism concerning defense-related work and its relationships in the Middle East, while staff reductions in 2023 affected the Opensource.com team. Red Hat remains an active global enterprise technology brand centered on open hybrid cloud and supported open-source infrastructure.

1. 2019IBM acquisition closes

   IBM completed its acquisition of Red Hat, which continued as an independent subsidiary.

   Source
2. 2018CoreOS acquisition and IBM agreement

   Red Hat acquired CoreOS and IBM announced an agreement to acquire Red Hat for approximately $34 billion.

   Source
3. 2015Ansible acquisition

   Red Hat acquired Ansible, strengthening its portfolio in infrastructure and application automation.

   Source
4. 2012Annual revenue exceeds one billion dollars

   Red Hat became the first open-source company reported to surpass $1 billion in annual revenue.

   Source
5. 2010Opensource.com launches

   Red Hat launched Opensource.com as an online publication about the application of open-source principles beyond software development.

   Source
6. 2008Qumranet acquisition expands virtualization work

   The acquisition brought technology and engineering associated with KVM virtualization.

   Source
7. 2006JBoss joins Red Hat

   Red Hat acquired JBoss, extending its enterprise open-source business into middleware and application platforms.

   Source
8. 2002Enterprise Linux is introduced

   Red Hat Linux Advanced Server was launched and later renamed Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

   Source
9. 1999Initial public offering and Cygnus acquisition

   Red Hat went public and acquired Cygnus Solutions, adding commercial free-software support and GNU toolchain expertise.

   Source
10. 1995Red Hat Software is formed

    Bob Young acquired Ewing's business and combined it with ACC Corporation under the Red Hat Software name.

    Source
11. 1994Marc Ewing releases Red Hat Linux

    Marc Ewing released his own Linux distribution, creating the software identity that later became the foundation of Red Hat.

    Source
12. 1993ACC Corporation is incorporated

    Bob Young incorporated ACC Corporation as a catalog business selling Linux and Unix software and accessories.

    Source

Enterprise-grade open-source technology provider focused on open hybrid cloud, portability, interoperability, security, and subscription-backed support.

• Red Hat Enterprise LinuxEnterprise operating system2002

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux is Red Hat's flagship commercially supported Linux platform. It is designed for long-lived enterprise deployments across servers, virtual machines, public-cloud environments, edge devices, and specialized computing systems. Subscriptions provide access to tested releases, security updates, lifecycle policies, management capabilities, certification programs, and technical support. RHEL also serves as a foundation for many Red Hat infrastructure, application, automation, and hybrid-cloud products.

• Red Hat OpenShiftContainer and application platform2011

  OpenShift is Red Hat's enterprise application platform built around Kubernetes and related cloud-native technologies. It provides tools for developing, deploying, operating, securing, and scaling containerized workloads across customer data centers and public clouds. The platform combines Kubernetes orchestration with developer services, security controls, observability, networking, lifecycle management, and Red Hat support. It is central to the company's open-hybrid-cloud positioning.

• Red Hat Ansible Automation PlatformIT automation2015

  Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is an enterprise automation portfolio based on the Ansible project. It helps organizations automate configuration, provisioning, application deployment, security operations, network administration, and recurring infrastructure tasks. Enterprise components add governance, credential management, workflow controls, analytics, content management, and supported automation execution for large and distributed environments.

• Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application PlatformEnterprise middleware2006

  JBoss Enterprise Application Platform is Red Hat's supported middleware platform for developing and running enterprise Java applications and services. It originated from Red Hat's acquisition of JBoss and forms part of a broader middleware portfolio that has included application servers, integration tools, messaging, business process technologies, and runtime components for modern application architectures.

• Red Hat OpenShift VirtualizationVirtualization

  OpenShift Virtualization provides virtual-machine capabilities within the OpenShift platform, allowing organizations to manage virtualized and containerized workloads through a common cloud-native environment. It represents Red Hat's current virtualization direction after the retirement of the separate Red Hat Virtualization product and is intended to support gradual modernization of existing virtualization estates.

• Red Hat build of KeycloakIdentity and access management

  Red Hat build of Keycloak is an enterprise-supported identity and access-management offering based on the open-source Keycloak project. It provides capabilities such as single sign-on, authentication, authorization, identity brokering, and user federation for applications and services. The product was previously associated with the Red Hat Single Sign-On name.

• Red Hat Ceph StorageSoftware-defined storage

  Red Hat Ceph Storage is an enterprise distribution and support offering for the Ceph storage platform. Ceph provides distributed block, file, and object storage using standard servers and networks. Its architecture is designed for scale, redundancy, self-healing, and the elimination of a single storage controller, supporting use cases such as cloud infrastructure, data services, disaster recovery, and large-scale repositories.

• 2010Opensource.com

  Worldwide

  Red Hat developed Opensource.com as a thought-leadership and editorial platform explaining how open-source methods could be applied in business, education, government, law, health, and other fields.

  Outcome. The publication operated for more than a decade; Red Hat layoffs in 2023 affected its maintaining team.

  Source
• 2005One Laptop per Child

  International

  Red Hat engineers collaborated with the One Laptop per Child initiative on an inexpensive educational laptop and helped develop software based on Fedora for the project's hardware.

  Outcome. The later XO-4 device used a slimmed-down Fedora-based operating system.

  Source

• 2018Agreement to be acquired by IBMM&A

  Red Hat had become a major provider of enterprise Linux, middleware, automation, and container infrastructure as customers moved toward hybrid-cloud architectures.

  What changed. IBM announced an agreement to acquire Red Hat while committing to preserve Red Hat's brand, independence, and open-source development model.

  Aftermath. The acquisition closed in 2019 and positioned Red Hat as a central component of IBM's hybrid-cloud business.

  Announced transaction value. $34 billion (October 2018 announcement)

  • Microsoft — Microsoft was reported as having considered acquiring Red Hat, but no transaction was announced.
  • Amazon — Amazon was reported as having considered acquiring Red Hat, but no transaction was announced.
  • Google — Google was reported as having considered acquiring Red Hat, but no transaction was announced.
  Source
• 2015Acquisition of AnsibleM&A

  Enterprise customers increasingly sought repeatable automation for infrastructure, application deployment, and operations across hybrid environments.

  What changed. Red Hat acquired Ansible and incorporated its automation technology into a supported enterprise platform.

  Aftermath. Automation became a major pillar of Red Hat's portfolio alongside Linux, containers, middleware, and management.

  Source
• 2002Launch of the enterprise Linux modelProduct launch

  Red Hat needed a commercially durable platform for organizations requiring predictable maintenance, certification, and support rather than a rapidly changing community distribution alone.

  What changed. The company introduced Red Hat Linux Advanced Server and subsequently renamed it Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

  Aftermath. RHEL became the company's core enterprise operating-system brand and a foundation for its broader subscription portfolio.

  Source

• 2009Financial-restatement class-action settlementControversy

  Red Hat agreed to an approximately $8.8 million settlement related to a class-action case concerning the restatement of earlier financial results. The company recorded a one-time charge in connection with the proposed settlement.

  Source
• Criticism concerning defense work and Middle East relationshipsControversy

  Red Hat has faced criticism and boycott calls concerning its relationships with Israeli military organizations and its work as a supplier to U.S. defense customers, including defense-related artificial-intelligence and edge-computing initiatives.

  Source

• 2023Red Hat restructures and reduces staff at Opensource.com

  Red Hat layoffs affected the team maintaining Opensource.com, the company's publication about open-source principles and practice.

  Other
  Source
• 2019IBM completes acquisition of Red Hat

  The transaction closed after regulatory review, and Red Hat began operating as an independent IBM subsidiary.

  M&A
  Source
• 2018Red Hat acquires CoreOS

  The acquisition strengthened Red Hat's container, Kubernetes, and cloud-native application capabilities.

  M&A
  Source
• 2018IBM announces agreement to acquire Red Hat

  IBM announced a proposed acquisition valued at approximately $34 billion, presenting Red Hat as a central element of its hybrid-cloud strategy.

  M&A
  Source
• 2015Red Hat acquires Ansible

  Red Hat acquired the IT automation company and incorporated its technology into the Red Hat automation portfolio.

  M&A
  Source
• 2006Red Hat acquires JBoss

  The acquisition expanded Red Hat into enterprise middleware and application platforms.

  M&A
  Source
• 2002Red Hat introduces Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  Red Hat Linux Advanced Server was introduced and later renamed Red Hat Enterprise Linux, establishing the company's principal enterprise operating-system line.

  Product launchProduct generation
  Source
• 1999Red Hat goes public

  Red Hat completed its initial public offering and recorded one of the strongest first-day gains in Wall Street history at that time.

  Other
  Source
• 1999Red Hat acquires Cygnus Solutions

  The acquisition added commercial free-software support expertise and maintainers associated with GNU development tools.

  M&A
  Source

1. Red Hat
2. Red Hat Leadership
3. IBM to Acquire Red Hat for $34 Billion
4. IBM Completes Acquisition of Red Hat
5. Red Hat to Acquire Ansible
6. Red Hat to Acquire CoreOS