Marten Mickos joined MySQL AB as CEO in 2001. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a startup to the second largest open source company and the fastest-growing database vendor in the world. Prior to MySQL, Mickos held multi-national CEO and senior executive positions in his native Finland. He holds a masters of science in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology.
Question: How do you make money with an Open Source product?
Answer: We start by not making money at all— but by making users. The vast community of MySQL users and developers is what drives our business.
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/08/ten_questions_w_2.html