Ray Saintonge wrote:
This kind of situation does not lend itself very well to waiting until we have the cash. Encarta has a bit of an advantage in that department. A purchase offer of $1.00 may be more appropriate if it's presented as an offer which Safra's estate can't refuse.
For interesting background reading see http://www.businessweek.com/1997/42/b3549124.htm and http://www.jewishsf.com/bk991210/obsafra.shtml
Our offer also needs to maintain Wikipedia's philosophical integrity.
It's a shame that Safra has died, because presumably his estate will have fiduciary responsibilities that would preclude any sort of OS gift to the world. Safra might have been persuadable, from the point of view of charity, but his heirs, it's hard to predict.