What’s the LMS Worth?

Herein, against my better judgement, I wade into the Great Instructure social media wars of 2019.  ... The announcement triggered a great deal of, let's call it discussion, on social media, particularly Twitter. A lot of has gotten nasty and heated.  On the surface, the discussion seems to be about questions regarding what Instructure (or Canvas, or the data Instructure has collected) is "worth".  Specifically, is it worth the $2billion Thoma Bravo has valued it at and why would TB pay that?  Underlying the valuation question though, is the real concern.  Can we discern the plans and future for Canvas (and thereby schools, instructors, students, the higher ed system, pedagogy, etc) from this transaction?  There's roughly two camps. ...