Springer for Sale!

Rumours abound that the Springer Publishing Company is up for sale. Springer publishes approx 6,500 new titles every year and owns 60 publishing houses in 20 countries in Europe, Asia and North America. This will pose an interesting dilemma for the new owners as Springer has always promoted Gold Open Access where the researcher pays for the rights to make their work freely available. This has been opposed by librarians and many others who have always supported Green Open Access where the author retains the right to publish his final draft version on an Open Access Repository. Were the new owners to have a different policy, what happens to the money researchers have already paid over to Springer for OA rights? Interesting times ahead!