Anyone remember when IBM was really keen on Linux around fifteen years ago? If they'd only followed through they would have had their own flavour and business to run into the ground.
IBM's strategy (until now) has been to encourage a competitive ecosystem of multiple Linux distros. That's why they propped up SLES, Yellow Dog, and Ubuntu at various times.
How did IBM prop up Ubuntu?
It seems like Ubuntu supported ppc64le long before Red Hat; I assume that was sponsored by IBM.
I don’t remember the detail but if that were sponsored then I suspect the revenue wouldn’t have covered a month of sending out free CDs, let alone doing any propping up.