Red Hat: More Turnover and Profit Thanks to Linux
Linux distributor Red Hat has reported increased turnover and profits in its interim report for the second quarter. The company mainly owes these promising figures to its Linux business.
The second quarter 2008 ended August 31, 2007 for Red Hat, whose business year ends February 29, 2008. Red Hat reported a turnover of US$ 127.3 in the second quarter, which is equivalent to a 28 percent increase compared to last year's figures, and seven percent up on the first quarter of 2008. Red Hat mainly owes its success to sales of software subscriptions of its enterprise Linux variant. Turnover of Red Hat Enterprise Linux totaled US$ 109.2 m, which is 29 percent up on the previous year's figures of US$ 84.9 m, and six percent up on the previous quarter. Net profits rose by 64 percent to US$ 18.2 m, compared with US$ 11 m in 2006. On a per share basis this means a dividend of US$ 0.09 compared with US$ 0.05 last year. Red Hat points to the more than 3000 applications that are now certified on the Red Hat platform.
Charlie Peters, Red Hat's Chief Financial Officer was also pleased with the development of operative profits and cash flow. "We continue to deliver strong operating profitability and cash flow". Peters sees the demand for Open Source solutions continuing to grow, and sees the need to invest in infrastructure in the interest of Red Hat's shareholders.
Parallel to the interim report, Peters had two personnel announcements to make. The previous head of the Red Hat Financial Division, Mark Cook, is being promoted to Vice President Finance and Controller; Paul Argiry will be taking over the position as Vice President and Treasurer. Cook joined Red Hat in 2004; Argiry's last position was as the Chief Financial Officer with Californian electronics corp., Jabil Circuit.
This is the third change to Red Hat's executive team in just a few days, with marketing boss Tim Yeaton having been replaced by Michael Chen. At the beginning of the week, Red Hat's shares had been downgraded from "outperforming" to "neutral" due to organizational and structural issues that started with the acquisition of middleware vendor Jboss.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.
-
System76 Refreshes Meerkat Mini PC
If you're looking for a small form factor PC powered by Linux, System76 has exactly what you need in the Meerkat mini PC.
-
Gnome 48 Alpha Ready for Testing
The latest Gnome desktop alpha is now available with plenty of new features and improvements.
-
Wine 10 Includes Plenty to Excite Users
With its latest release, Wine has the usual crop of bug fixes and improvements, along with some exciting new features.
-
Linux Kernel 6.13 Offers Improvements for AMD/Apple Users
The latest Linux kernel is now available, and it includes plenty of improvements, especially for those who use AMD or Apple-based systems.
-
Gnome 48 Debuts New Audio Player
To date, the audio player found within the Gnome desktop has been meh at best, but with the upcoming release that all changes.
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.
-
Budgie 10.10 Scheduled for Q1 2025 with a Surprising Desktop Update
If Budgie is your desktop environment of choice, 2025 is going to be a great year for you.
-
Firefox 134 Offers Improvements for Linux Version
Fans of Linux and Firefox rejoice, as there's a new version available that includes some handy updates.
-
Serpent OS Arrives with a New Alpha Release
After months of silence, Ikey Doherty has released a new alpha for his Serpent OS.