Akamai to acquire AWS competitor Linode for $900M

Akamai Technologies announced today it has reached an agreement to acquire infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform provider Linode for approximately $900 million, in a move to help enable Akamai to become “the world’s most distributed compute platform.”

Founded in 2003, Linode has sought to serve as an IaaS alternative to public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

The goal of the acquisition is to provide developers with a distributed platform for building, running, and securing “next-generation” applications, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Akamai said in a news release.

Competing with AWS

In particular, Linode sought to draw a distinction between its offering and that of AWS.

“There’s no question AWS is the big kahuna in the cloud,” Linode says on its website. “If you are a large enterprise and need the ability to customize your infrastructure, AWS is a good fit. But if you’re a small business owner or independent developer, having access to all of that advanced cloud technology comes at a cost: unnecessary complexity, risk of lock-in to Amazon’s ecosystem, and frequent billing surprises.”

According to Linode, the company’s offering “dramatically simplifies running applications in the cloud – launch a server in seconds and enjoy our straightforward API, CLI and Cloud Manager interface.”

“Linode was designed for developers, startups, and small to medium-sized businesses,” the company says.

Akamai’s acquisition of Linode is expected to close during the first quarter of 2022.

‘Developer-friendly’

Linode “has made it simple, affordable and accessible for developers to consume cloud computing,” Akamai said in its news release.

The combination of Linode’s “developer-friendly cloud computing capabilities” and Akamai’s edge platform and security offerings is “transformational for Akamai,” said Akamai cofounder and CEO Tom Leighton in the news release.

With the acquisition, “we are excited to begin a new chapter in our evolution by creating a unique cloud platform to build, run and secure applications from the cloud to the edge,” Leighton said.

“This a big win for developers who will now be able to build the next generation of applications on a platform that delivers unprecedented scale, reach, performance, reliability and security,” he said.

Linode says on his website that it had not raised outside funding. “We do not have or need investors,” the company said. “Linode has successfully run a profitable business since our inception in 2003.”

The Philadelphia-based company has 250 employees, according to Akamai.

Linode’s founder andCEO Christopher Aker, said in the news release that “customers face new challenges as cloud services become all-encompassing, including compute, storage, security, and delivery from core to edge.”

“Solving those challenges requires tremendous integration and scale, which Akamai and Linode plan to bring together under one roof,” Aker added.