Originally, CentOS Linux (before it was thus named) was a build artifact for cAos Linux. Several of the cAos contributors at the time were really just interested in this build artifact for their own use, citing difficulties in collaborating with other noteworthy RHEL clones of the time.
In June 2006, David Parsley, the primary developer of Tao Linux, another Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clone, announced that it would be retired and rolled into CentOS development. Tao users migrated to the CentOS release via "yum update".^[6]
In July 2009, it was reported that CentOS's founder, Lance Davis, had disappeared in 2008. Davis had ceased contribution to the project, but continued to hold the registration for the CentOS domain and PayPal account. In August 2009, the CentOS team reportedly made contact with Davis and obtained the centos.info and centos.org domains.^[7]
In July 2010, CentOS overtook Debian to become the most popular Linux distribution for web servers, with almost 30% of all Linux web servers using it,^[8] although Debian retook the lead in January 2012.^[9]
In January 2014, Red Hat announced that it would sponsor the CentOS project in order to establish a platform well suited to the needs of open source developers that integrate technologies in and around the RHEL-based operating system.^[10] As the result of these changes, ownership of CentOS trademarks was transferred to Red Hat,^[11] who now employs most of the CentOS head developers; however, they work as part of the Red Hat's Open Source and Standards team, which is separated from the RHEL team.^[12] A new CentOS Governing Board was also established.^[13]