Freenode in its original form was slowly dying - running in partnership with Private Internet Access means they don't have to stress out quite so much about stretching every penny and the behind-the-scenes of running a non-profit, and can focus on the longer-term projects they've been trying to implement.

Freenode is registered as a "private company limited by guarantee without share capital" performing "activities of other membership organisations not elsewhere classified", with Christel and Andrew Lee (PIA's founder) as officers, and Andrew Lee having the majority of voting rights. Any profits are not to be distributed under their articles of association, making it a not-for-profit company.

Frankly speaking... I suspect that Andrew Lee is a techie who came into a pile of money and actually, legitimately wants to prevent IRC from dying.

This is extremely worrisome. What is their endgame? Who are the people behind PIA, and what is their motivation? Sure, freenode is an important network to keep alive, but PIA seems to be spreading it's influence in a lot of places.

the announcement: https://freenode.net/news/pia-fn (from April)