Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 09:12:25 -0500
From: Maribel Lopez <mlopez@schwartz-pr.com>
To: <lwn@lwn.net>
Subject: Red Hat Promotes Kevin Thompson to Chief Financial Officer


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information:

Melissa London				 Bryan Scanlon
Red Hat, Inc.				   Schwartz Communications for Red Hat
(919) 547-0012				  (781) 684-0770
melissa@redhat.com		     redhat@schwartz-pr.com

RED HAT PROMOTES KEVIN THOMPSON TO CHIEF FINANCIAL
OFFICER

Vice President of Operations and Industry Veteran Takes Charge of Global
Operations and Finance

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--November 9, 2000--Red Hat, Inc.
(Nasdaq:RHAT), the leader in developing, deploying and managing open source
Internet infrastructure solutions, today announced the promotion of Kevin
Thompson to the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Thompson, who
joined Red Hat as Vice President of Operations in October 2000, has more than 13
years of experience managing operations, financial transactions such as debt and
equity offerings, and mergers and acquisitions through his position as a partner at
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

"In just a short time it was compellingly clear that Kevin had the skills, experience
and enthusiasm to assume the operational helm as CFO," said Matthew Szulik,
president and CEO of Red Hat. "Kevin brings tremendous experience with global
finance to Red Hat’s executive team and is an enormous asset to our rapidly
growing company."

Thompson formerly served as a partner in the Global Technology Industry Group
of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he directed stock offerings and oversaw
mergers and acquisitions at public and private technology companies. Prior to his
position at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thompson served as a senior manager for
Arthur Andersen LLP for 10 years, overseeing public offerings and directing
projects for multi-national companies in North America, Latin American and
Southeast Asia. Thompson is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a bachelor
of science degree in business administration with highest honors from the
University of Oklahoma.

"In the time I have been involved with Red Hat, I have become convinced of Red
Hat’s ability to revolutionize the software industry," said Thompson. "As Red
Hat’s CFO, I am confident that Red Hat is on track to meet the goals we’ve
communicated to the public markets--improved gross margins, continued 100
percent revenue growth and profitability by the end of calendar year 2001."

Kevin Thompson and the Red Hat executive team will be presenting at today’s
investment community meeting. A special listen-only audio Web cast of the
meeting will be available at www.redhat.com during the meeting, scheduled for
8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. To participate, simply click on ‘‘Investors’’ at
www.redhat.com.

Red Hat, Inc.

Founded in 1994, Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT), is the leader in development,
deployment and management of Linux and open source solutions for Internet
infrastructure ranging from small embedded devices to high availability clusters
and secure Web servers. In addition to the award-winning Red Hat Linux server
operating system, Red Hat is the principle provider of GNU-based developer tools
and support solutions for a wide variety of embedded processors. Red Hat
provides run-time solutions, developer tools, Linux kernel expertise and offers
support and engineering services to organizations in all embedded and Linux
markets.

Red Hat applies its technological leadership to create open source solutions for all
points on the Internet and in pervasive computing environments, offers services
backed by the best understanding of open source and the most comprehensive
resources, and delivers the brand of a widely trusted open source leader and
corporate partner. Red Hat offers users one single, trusted point of contact and a
common platform for developing, deploying and managing open source across the
Internet and devices that connect to the Internet.

Red Hat is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and has offices worldwide.
Please visit Red Hat on the Web at www.redhat.com. For investor inquiries,
contact Lippert/Heilshorn at (212) 838-3777.

# # #

LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of
Red Hat, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release that are not strictly
historical statements, including, without limitation, management’s plans and
objectives for future operations and management’s assessment of market factors,
constitute forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. These
risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, product plans and performance,
the ability to continue to develop the Linux kernel and other software, reliance
upon strategic relationships, Red Hat’s dependence upon an open source business
model, reliance upon independent third-party Linux developers, management of
growth, expansion of Red Hat’s business focus and operations, the possibility of
undetected software errors, the enforceability of the GNU General Public License
and other licenses under which Red Hat’s products are developed and licensed, the
scarcity of Linux-based applications, the risks of economic downturns generally,
and in Red Hat’s industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and
competitive pricing pressures, the viability of the Internet, and other risks detailed
in Red Hat’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of
which may be accessed through the SEC’s Web site at http://www.sec.gov.