Over 97% of the 'Linux' Foundation's Budget Goes Not to Linux(techrights.org)
86 pointsby esaym3 hours ago12 comments
  • sysreq_2 hours ago
    Reading through the list of projects that the Linux Foundation supports (via infrastructure, governance, events, etc) with the other 181 million is honestly shocking. They are supporting, among like a thousand others - NodeJS/OpenJS, PyTorch, Electron, K8s, vLLM, ONNX, PX4, GraphQL - plus the 'smaller' entries like Zephyr, Containerd, gRPC, KiCAD, ESLint, Fastify, etc. Their portfolio is literally insane. This is the BlackRock of the entire digital world.
    • sudo_cowsay29 minutes ago
      is it investments or just donating/funding for no compensation?
    • marsven_422an hour ago
      [dead]
  • wolttam2 hours ago
    8 million (~3%) towards the Linux kernel

    180 million (~65%) towards ancillary project support, which includes a huge ecosystem of useful technologies around linux

    Their 'corporate operations' overhead is like 5% of expenses. whoop.

    • tdeck37 minutes ago
      Is there a description of the other projects that fall under that heading? I was curious but didn't see it skimming through the document.
  • woodruffw3 hours ago
    Without bending over backwards to defend the Linux Foundation, I'll point out that the 97% number means very little -- the percentage that actually matters is the percentage that doesn't go towards funding open source at all. The Linux Foundation hasn't been solely about Linux for decades; they are (facially) responsible for hosting a very large number of open source projects.
  • feverzsj2 minutes ago
    Still far better than most charitable funds.
  • teo_zeroan hour ago
    To be fair, you should say that over 97% of the Linux Foundation's budget goes not to the Linux kernel.

    There's more to Linux than the kernel.

  • tdeck3 hours ago
    The executive compensation is pretty shocking

    https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/460...

    • blackjack_2 hours ago
      Actually crazy that Linus just takes home 1.5M per year for one of the largest contributions to tech of anyone in the world. Obviously nobody needs more than that per year, but this pay is 1/100 or 1/1000th of many tech executives that have contributed very little comparatively.
      • potamic22 minutes ago
        A wealth tax than caps one's inflow to something like a million a year makes a lot of sense. To all the billionaire sympathizers who worry about incentives and technological progress, this here is a perfect (and not the only) example of how intrinsic motivation can beat extrinsic motivation by a huge margin.

        There will always be people who value intrinsic incentives and even more so when there is a lack or limitation of extrinsic ones. Society will do well to structure itself primarily around such people. Such people are also less likely to cause damage to others because it's very rare that damage to others fulfills one's intrinsic needs. Linus is arguably a net positive to human society than the top 20 billionaires combined. We need more of him and less of the others.

      • wmf2 hours ago
        That's the difference between giving your work away for free or not. 100x.
        • jancsikaan hour ago
          1st place: $1 million with my work running on billions of devices

          A Very Distant 2nd place: $100 million and a beautifully framed picture of my masterpiece, The Conjoined Triangles of Success

        • balamatoman hour ago
          Or maybe the difference between doing work, and controlling humans by convincing them that what they're doing is "work".
    • woodruffw2 hours ago
      Is it? Percentage-wise, executive compensation appears to be lower than well-regarded technology nonprofits[1][2]. In some sense that's extremely weird, since LF is a trade organization rather than a public-interest nonprofit. Their financiers are huge corporations, not individual donors!

      (This is the core of the bigger problem with LF, IMO -- they simply don't represent non-corporate OSS interests at all, beyond some lip service.)

      [1]: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/430...

      [2]: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/460...

    • andrekandre2 hours ago
      it does fit the trend...

      [0] https://www.epi.org/chart/ceopay2019-figure-a-ceo-realized-d...

      • woodruffw2 hours ago
        Not to belabor the point, but LF is a 501(c)(6), not a 501(c)(3). They don't behave like your intuition for a public-interest nonprofit because they aren't one. You shouldn't give them your money!
        • s0ss2 hours ago
          Why not?
          • wolttaman hour ago
            They get their money from corporate sponsors, because those sponsors benefit greatly from the existence of the Linux ecosystem.

            They don't need the contributions of individuals to keep going forever and ever.

          • loeg2 hours ago
            It's an industry trade association, for the benefit of its members. You aren't one of its members. (I'd suggest spending 60 seconds researching the difference between a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) on wikipedia or whatever.)
    • nextaccountic3 hours ago
      I'm actually more curious on why a lot of directors receive $0, while others receive almost 1M
    • vkou2 hours ago
      > pretty shocking

      Shockingly low.

      Way more people who are doing way less good (many of them are net-negative to society by a very large margin, and we'd all be better off if they stopped going to work) for the world in corporate America make way more money.

      Shit, a random L7 SWE or some low level manager makes more money than most of these people.

    • pyuser5833 hours ago
      I’m guessing it’s below market rates. Silicon Valley and all.
  • countWSS3 hours ago
    What is the 181M$ mysterious "Project Support" in the graph means? Linux is labeled separately, so it cannot be the "Project".
    • themafia2 hours ago
      That's revenue. This article isn't clear at all. Here's their actual tax filing:

      https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/460...

      More than half the money spent on Conferences and Salaries with the rest being functional expenses. Nothing in the "grants" or "benefits to members" column. Prima facie this would not be an organization I would ever donate to.

      Which is good because most of their revenue comes from fees and services rendered.

      • cortesoft2 hours ago
        You aren’t supposed to donate to them!
  • jrflowers2 hours ago
    My favorite part of this is when they say this

    > Linus Torvalds is not in charge and is no longer compensated fairly, either. The highest paid people don't even use Linux. Torvalds is no longer in the top 10 (not anymore).

    And then link to a filing that shows his “compensation” being lower than the others but also having an extra million dollars in the “other” column.

    https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/460...

    It kind of looks like if you count the extra million dollars earmarked for him he would be the highest-paid person on the list?

  • WhereIsTheTruth6 minutes ago
    15M on corporate BS

    16M on event services

    only 8M on the kernel

    Thanks for reminding me why i do not support nor respect this criminal foundation full of fraudsters

  • sourcegriftan hour ago
    As a 24 year linux user, linux foundation is cancer, they don't use linux themselves.
  • jmclnx2 hours ago
    Well this is in line with the fact the LF has been quiet about these new Age Verification laws. The LF should be very vocal about how these laws will hurt Linux.

    It is almost seems like the LF wants these laws :(

    • cromka42 minutes ago
      They aren't going to hurt Linux at all. Desktop Linux is of little importance still.
  • siren20262 hours ago
    I have some experience with the CNCF and oh boy is it a huge powergrab with excuse of inclusivity, wokeness and all the stuff that comes with it. Rarely seen so many self serving people that are in it for themselves as in the CNCF.

    Yes, downvote away.

    • wmfan hour ago
      I agree that LF and CNCF have serious conceptual problems but I think finances and executive comp are the least of them. This article is attacking the wrong part.
      • siren2026an hour ago
        Yup. The CNCF is a power grab, not a huge money grab. All those people make money other places.