[1] In October 1987, Norris co-founded the private-equity firm The Carlyle Group with four other Washington DC executives: David M. Rubenstein, William E. Conway, Jr., Daniel A.
[5][6] There was also an unnamed Middle East partner in the proposed deal; the Associated Press reported that Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia was involved.
[9][10][11] Neither of those plans went forward,[12] and instead in June 2009 a new proposal emerged from a combination of Gulf Capital Partners, of which Stephen Norris was an investor, and MerchantBridge, a London-based, Middle East-focused private equity group, to create an entity called UnXis, which would then buy SCO's software business assets for $2.4 million.
[16] Thus in February 2011, another proposal was made, this time for $600,000, with this iteration of UnXis being backed by Norris, MerchantBridge, and Gerson Global Advisors.
In 2008 Ryan Paul of Ars Technica noted that "UnixWare, SCO's flagship product, hasn't seen a new release in four years.
"[5] Veteran technology journalist Maureen O'Gara in 2011 called UnXis an "odd venture" which had "been offering to buy SCO since mid-2009 for reasons that aren't patently obvious to anybody.
"[17] In early March 2011, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of the Unix computer operating system to Norris's new company UnXis, since the only other bid submitted was for $18.
[18] The sale closed in April 2011, with Stephen Norris Capital Partners and MerchantBridge being the final buyers, and UnXis was formed in substance.