Some corporations pay developers to work on Linux. Few opensource projects are sponsored. Most distros rely on donations, sponsorships. A few distros make partnerships with hardware manufacturers.

Does Linux make money?

Linux companies like RedHat and Canonical, the company behind the incredibly popular Ubuntu Linux distro, also make much of their money from professional support services as well. If you think about it, software used to be a one-time sale (with some upgrades), but professional services are an ongoing annuity.

Who pays Linux developers?

During the period of this most recent 2016 report, the top contributing companies to the Linux kernel were Intel (12.9 percent), Red Hat (8 percent), Linaro (4 percent), Samsung (3.9 percent), SUSE (3.2 percent), and IBM (2.7 percent).