So, in our ongoing investigation into...
Who Actually Owns Bluesky?
...there is a new mystery to solve.
Three weeks ago the tech press was reporting #Bluesky was about to close a new funding round led by Bain Capital which would value it at $700M. 👀 !!!
businessinsider.com/x-competit…
Since then, nothing. No information on whether the round closed nor who the investors are.
Anyone know anything?
Before signing up for another corporate honey trap, wouldn't you like to know who owns your future?
X competitor Bluesky's valuation jumps to around $700 million
Bluesky is raising new funding led by Bain Capital Ventures that would value the social media company at around $700 million, according to sources.Ben Bergman (Business Insider)
This entry was edited (2 months ago)
reshared this
Gitano
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •irelephant likes this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •What we do know about...
Who Actually Owns Bluesky?
...might give you pause.
To summarize, the company represents that Jay Graber and the employees own Bluesky. This is misleading. In actuality, Bluesky has a host of tech VC shareholders (accessipos.com/bluesky-stock-i…).
And now they have gone radio silent on this new Bain Capital round.
Meanwhile they merrily collect all the disaffected liberal voices on one closed centralized platform pretending to be an open distributed network. 🤔
Bluesky Stock: Who Owns Bluesky, and will it IPO?
Craig Stephens (Access IPOs)reshared this
TC Won't Give In To Lies, Ben Royce 🇺🇦, JonChevreau, Tuomas Tammisto, Cthulku, Cassie, Fluffgar 🏴 HAS MOVED and Nick Stevens Graphics reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Previous post regarding...
Who Actually Owns Bluesky?
mastodon.online/@mastodonmigra…
mastodon.online/@mastodonmigra…
Mastodon Migration
2025-01-10 00:31:02
RealGene ☣️
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •From the article:
"Most popular social media platforms operate under a centralized infrastructure — in-house servers. Bluesky runs on the AT Protocol ecosystem and a support network of independently operated servers communicating with one another.
Decentralization reduces control by a single entity and promotes diverse governance models. Users can move their followers between platforms within the AT Protocol ecosystem if desired. "
Is any of this more than theoretical?
Mastodon Migration
in reply to RealGene ☣️ • • •@RealGene
No. It's simply vaporware at this point. Everyone is on one corporate instance.
Feyter
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@RealGene the reality is that there will probably never be more than a single relay(instance in the BS world), since the cost of operating a relay are exorbitant and grow with any member in the network.
So #blueSky is not build around the idea of decentralization. It's using decentral aspects for some features.
For more info: dustycloud.org/blog/how-decent…
How decentralized is Bluesky really? -- Dustycloud Brainstorms
dustycloud.orgMastodon Migration reshared this.
felis_catus_domesticus
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •irelephant
in reply to RealGene ☣️ • • •Reelo
reelo.appMastodon Migration
in reply to irelephant • • •Lots of words to obfuscate the reality the everyone on Bluesky is reliant on Bluesky Inc. All traffic goes through the company servers. It is a centralized system.
Edit: More to the point. It's a centralized system with a currently open API, and we've seen how that goes. Ask Tweetbot and Twitterific how that worked out for them.
People investing in building 3rd party apps are those who should be screaming the loudest. "Who owns this company?"
irelephant
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Chilly 🛡️
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@neurovagrant
Job Destroyer
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Mastodon Migration
Unknown parent • • •Anyone who is also on Bluesky, why not ask?
Make it an issue. Demand to know who owns the company and in what percentages.
You deserve to know who owns your data and your content.
You deserve to know who could cut you off or censor your engagement.
You deserve to know their ties to Silicon Valley and political affiliations.
Ian K. Rogers ikr?╭ರ_ಠ
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Mastodon Migration
in reply to Ian K. Rogers ikr?╭ರ_ಠ • • •@ianrogers
We do not know what his actual continuing relationship may be. They have said he doesn't have equity, but there are other things like convertable notes or warrants that could exist. Thing is, we don't know.
dogzilla
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@lisamelton BlueSky is enjoyable right now, but I’m operating under the assumption that sometime in the next few years I’m going to have to leave that network too.
I no longer trust centrally-controlled social media
irelephant likes this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to dogzilla • • •sb arms & legs reshared this.
dogzilla
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@lisamelton That’s fair, but I’m also here on Mastodon and I run my own instance. My voice can’t ever be muted - not sure how not being on BlueSky or not has any impact on that.
I suppose I could be marginalized on BlueSky, but that frankly doesn’t matter much to me - it’s enjoyable.
Isaac Ji Kuo
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@dogzilla @lisamelton I recognize that Lucy will pull away the football perfectly timed to oops the fascists won again, but I am extremely committed to not doing anything about it until it's too late and it's the fault of Mastodon/diaspora/the Democratic Party for not being perfect in every way according to my opinion that is coincidentally influenced by the fascists to think this way.
Democrats/Mastodon/diaspora do better!
Mastodon Migration reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Isaac Ji Kuo • • •@isaackuo @dogzilla @lisamelton
That about sums it up.
dogzilla
in reply to Isaac Ji Kuo • • •@isaackuo @lisamelton Sorry - do you have some concrete reason to think BlueSky is nefarious? Or is this just you applying your own prejudices to the world at large?
And I can assure you that fighting fascism isn’t going to take place on Mastodon or BlueSky or any social media. Those are distractions to make you feel like you’ve accomplished something…but you haven’t. Fighting fascism happens in the real world.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to dogzilla • • •Feel like the concerns are all spelled out very clearly. If you choose to ignore them that is entirely up to you.
Edit: but if you want two reasons to distrust Bluesky, would say their lack of transparency about who owns them and the fact that there are several crypto bros in the mix. Also, the baloney about it being distributed when in fact it is centralized.
Isaac Ji Kuo
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@dogzilla @lisamelton Sorry, but I can't take you seriously if you think that elections don't matter.
That's what Musk and other techbros are doing - doing fascism by influencing elections, and some countries aren't taking that lying down.
It simply doesn't matter who owns Bluesky right now, what matters is that they're up for sale at any time, and the fascists are willing to pay more because they don't care about losing money to win elections.
Mastodon Migration reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
Unknown parent • • •@plaureano
Word!
Viss
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •I looked into this a little close to 2 weeks ago..
mastodon.social/@Viss/11386253…
Viss
2025-01-20 20:20:56
Mastodon Migration reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Viss • • •Interesting, thank you for posting. Not sure how accurate it is, and it doesn't name the investors or their percentage ownership, but it adds to the puzzle.
Also really like your conclusion that they are extremely vulnerable to oligarch capture.
Bottom line, Bluesky is not being forthcoming about their ownership and that should concern everyone.
Viss
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •reshared this
Mastodon Migration and Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈 reshared this.
musing_sys🇨🇦
in reply to Viss • • •Viss
in reply to musing_sys🇨🇦 • • •@musing_sys yeah.
and they keep talking about federation, but havent done it yet.
and they are opting to chase users falling off tiktok instead of building out creature comfort features EVERY OTHER PLATFORM HAS.
theyre the apple of social media.
super popular, full of celebs, missing BASIC FUNCTIONALITY that everyone else has. saying one thing, doing another
musing_sys🇨🇦
in reply to Viss • • •Mastodon Migration
in reply to musing_sys🇨🇦 • • •@musing_sys @Viss
So much of these repeated patterns is attributable to the masses not engaging in critical thinking.
Viss
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@musing_sys exactly. and we have instagram and tiktok to thank for the current "fifteen second attention span" most people have on social media platforms now.
oh shit i have to read like four sentences? oh fuck, i have to think about stuff? unsubscribe.
those probably arent the users you want *ANYWAY* and the ceaseless sprint towards upping MAU is unsustainable. they know it, but they want to cash out before it crashes.
its kinda like shorting a stock
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Viss • • •The headline you don't see in the tech media:
Crypto Bros Buy Up Liberal Oasis Bluesky: What Are They Up To?
Could that be because crypto bros are buying up tech media?🤷
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK reshared this.
Viss
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •well the current investors may actualy be ok despite being tainted with the stink of blockchain. its entirely plausible theyre also 'just fucking done' with ig/fb/twitter too.
but the 'vuln' here is that dipshit billionaires or hundred-millionaires can roll in and buy the entire fucking platform
BECAUSE they took investors.
the entrypoint here is to buy out investors. not bsky staff/equity holders
they only need ONE INVESTOR to jump ship for there to be blood in the water
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK reshared this.
Chuck Darwin
in reply to Viss • • •@mastoreaderio unroll please
Masto Reader
in reply to Chuck Darwin • • •@cdarwin here's the unrolled thread: mastoreader.io?url=https%3A%2F…
Next time, kindly set the visibility to 'Mentioned people only' and mention only me (@mastoreaderio). This ensures we avoid spamming others' timelines and threads unless you intend for others to see the unrolled thread link as well.
Thank you!
Masto Reader
mastoreader.ioOCTADE
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •I Voted for McGovern
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •SpaceLifeForm
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •I would suspect there was cryptocurrency involved.
#Cryptocurrency
Mastodon Migration
in reply to SpaceLifeForm • • •@SpaceLifeForm
Suspect lots and lots of it
Leisureguy
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Mastodon Migration reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Leisureguy • • •Great idea. Let's ask him.
Mike, who are the shareholders in #Bluesky?
Did the latest round led by Bain Capital close?
If so, who invested and how much?
Mastodon Migration reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
Unknown parent • • •@lurkeyturkey
While this includes lots of crypto bros it does not include any investors from the Bain Capital $700M round announced in January. Either that round didn't happen, or it is being kept quiet. The $15M Blockchain money has to be gone, so where are they getting their operating capital?
#Bluesky
Mastodon Migration reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •And, apparently #Bluesky is now running billboard ads in Boston saying they are "billionaire proof"
These kinds of ads are expensive. Where are they getting the money?
Did the January Bain Capital round close? If so, who invested and how much?
Who owns Bluesky?
reshared this
Mastodon Migration, No Gods , no Masters! RESIST, nullagent, TheNovemberFella ✊🏳️🌈 🇺🇦☸️🛰️🚀, Voline and LoupiotNoir reshared this.
Coach Pāṇini ®
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@lurkeyturkey
This is the equivalent of “Who funds The Federalist”?
They know we know.
It is known.
We know.
No Gods , no Masters! RESIST reshared this.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Coach Pāṇini ® • • •@paninid @lurkeyturkey
We may suspect, but we don't know specifics and the company is not telling.
Why if they are such a public benefit, is the identity of who owns the company such a secret?
Who owns #Bluesky?
Why don't Bluesky users demand to know?
Why won't @mmasnick, who is on the board, reveal who owns Bluesky?
SamuelJohnson
Unknown parent • • •@lurkeyturkey "land based nation states" is a sorry deflection from governments with legal authority to collect taxes, the basis of all currency, in favour of digital feudal overlords accountable to nobody but themselves.
Democratically elected governments may not be perfect but they're accountable.
Kuba Suder • @mackuba.eu on 🦋
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@lurkeyturkey "Rumored", not "announced". Media posting articles about hearing something isn't an announcement ;)
And they have a relatively very low spending rate, they're running almost everything on bare metal servers instead of in the cloud to save money, and they don't hire many people, specifically to make the money last as long as possible so they don't have to sell out the company. So I'm pretty sure they're still running off the money they got before.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to Kuba Suder • @mackuba.eu on 🦋 • • •@mackuba @lurkeyturkey
Kuba, do you know how many employees/contractors they have?
Jeaux
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Kuba Suder • @mackuba.eu on 🦋
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •