Recently information was released online related to some internal problems that are being had within the Elementary OS group with which the future destiny of the distribution is in doubt.
And it is that due to the conflict between the founders of the project, a problem is taking place, since the company that supervises the development and accumulates the incoming funds cannot be divided.
The company was co-created by two founders, Cassidy Blaede and Danielle Foré, who worked full-time on the project and were funded by donations to upload builds and provide technical support.
Due to declining financial performance in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, cash receipts decreased and the company was forced to cut wages of employees by 5%. In February, a meeting was scheduled to further cut the budget. First of all, it was proposed to cut the salaries of the owners.
Before the meeting, Cassidy Blade announced that she had accepted a job offer from another company. At the same time, he wanted to keep his shares, remain among the owners of the company, and continue to participate in decision-making.
First of all, there are sort of two forces at work here. One is that Elementary received a large anonymous donation a couple of years ago, as you may recall. Another is that sales have really struggled since COVID hit and haven't really recovered.
So for quite some time, Elementary has been losing a significant amount of money . We've been trying to figure out how to solve this and you've probably seen more effort at the retail store, YouTube, etc, but the reality is that our budget is too big and needs to be cut.
Danielle Fore did not agree with this position, since, in his opinion, those who directly develop it should manage the project. The co-owners discussed dividing the company's assets so that the company would remain entirely in Daniela's hands and Cassidy would receive half of the remaining funds in the account ($26) for her share.
After beginning to prepare the documents to process an agreement to transfer a stake in the company, Danielle received a letter from an attorney representing Cassidy, who proposed new terms: a transfer of $30,000 now, $70,000 over 10 years, and ownership. 5% of the shares.
When you look at the costs of a remote company with digital products like Elementary, you see that the biggest costs are salaries, and there is not a significant amount of savings anywhere other than by reducing salaries. Then, at the beginning of the year, we agreed on a 5% cut
Noting that the agreements were completely different at the beginning, the attorney explained that these were preliminary discussions and Cassidy did not give his final consent to those conditions. The increase in the amount is explained by the desire to receive compensation in the event of a sale of the company in the future.
Well it's been a whole month and this situation still hasn't been resolved and it sucks that you're completely in the dark and it's pretty obvious something's going on and people are asking what's going on so here's my side of the story.
https://twitter.com/DaniElainaFore/status/1501029682782695430
Danielle refused to accept the new conditions and he considered the actions taken as a betrayal on Cassidy's part. Danielle considers the initial agreements fair and she is willing to take 26 thousand herself and leave, but she does not intend to assume obligations that could put her in debt later.
Cassidy replied that he did not agree to the first terms, so called a lawyer. Danielle pointed out that if it is not possible to agree to transfer the management of the company to her hands, she is ready to leave the project and join another community.
The fate of the project is now in question, since the situation cannot be resolved for another month and the money left in the company is mainly spent on salary payments and probably soon the co-owners will have nothing to share.
Finally, if you are interested in being able to know more about it, you can consult the details in the following link