The Pirate Bay sold for £4.7m: plans to go legit
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Well, who saw this coming? The Pirate Bay has been sold to Swedish company Global Gaming Factory X for £4.7 million, and the site’s new owners say they plan to take it legit, with a new business model.
Specifically, GGFX said that the site needs a new model that “satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary”, while CEO Hans Pandeya backed that up with this statement: “We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site.”
So what’s going on here? The co-founders of The Pirate Bay are facing a £2.2 million fine and a year in jail following their recent conviction in Sweden – which they’re appealing – but say the sale is about ensuring the site itself survives.
