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RHAT shares merely tripled a few months earlier:

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-229679.html

I don't recall whether Redhat offered F&F shares widely like VA did.

edit: apparently RHAT did:

http://www.salon.com/1999/08/13/redhat_shares_2/

I didn't realize it was so contentious. Anyway, I got in on the LNUX IPO, not the RHAT one.

Yep. I got in on the RHAT F&F deal thanks to some bug reports and a patch here and there.

I made the stupid mistake of allowing coworkers to buy some shares through me but I wasn't fully aware of the tax burden. Basically everything I made myself went in to paying the taxes on everyone else's shit. What little was left I had to give to my family to help with other bullshit.

I participated in both. The RHAT IPO was tricky because a lot of us were new to investing and there was a requirement to prove otherwise. This was regardless of whether you were willing to put up with the risk. Keep in mind that this was when online trading was in its relative infancy; there just wasn't the kind of access to information about trading that we enjoy these days.

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