Filesharing protocol firm BitTorrent has announced that it has been officially acquired by Tron. Rumors that the Acquisition had been completed emerged as early as June 11, when BitTorrent employees reportedly received an email notifying them of the company’s new owner.
According to the announcement, “BitTorrent will continue operating from TRON’s new San Francisco location, which is now the center of operations for the company’s global market expansion.” As a new division of Tron, BitTorrent “will provide robust support for TRON’s global business development and partnerships, while pursuing its vision for the world’s largest decentralized ecosystem.”
It's official. BitTorrent is now part of #TRON. We pioneered the world's largest decentralized p2p protocol, now we're joining forces with TRON to build the future of the decentralized internet. Read more at https://t.co/ZoCPl5c5wS. @Tronfoundation @justinsuntron pic.twitter.com/EI3xP8Gdz2
— BitTorrent Inc. (@BitTorrent) July 24, 2018
Tron will also likely benefit from the association with BitTorrent’s user base, which is reportedly compromised of 100 million people around the world. BitTorrent also said that “We believe that joining the TRON network will further enhance BitTorrent and accelerate our mission of creating an Internet of options, not rules.”
Tron’s Acquisition of BitTorrent Began in September 2017
Tron’s Founder, Justin Sun, allegedly became interested in acquiring BitTorrent as early as September of 2017; Sun allegedly signed a “letter of intent to acquire” in January. At one point, Sun filed a restraining order against BitTorrent to prevent the company from pursuing other bidders. He claimed that BitTorrent had agreed not to seek other buyers.
After the order was lifted, Sun formed ‘Rainberry Acquisition LLC,’ an entity that was used to file merging documents with Rainberry LLC, the company that owned BitTorrent before Tron did.
The financial details of the acquisition have not yet been made public.
