>>> Ubuntu [...], and a lot of popular distros are made out of that codebase,
>>> by paid developers.

>> Are you sure that the official Ubuntu-based distributions are done by paid people?
>> I only found that Kubuntu is contributed to also by corporate programmers,
>> but not for the other distros.

> Cononical pay their programmers, yes.

Canonical does not contribute to all 12 listed official Ubuntu-based distros, hence my question. Looking deeper, I find that the following ones are apparently contributed to by Canonical: Edubuntu, Ubuntu Touch, Ubuntu TV, Ubuntu Server. The following are contributed to by other corporations: Kubuntu (Blue Systems), Ubuntu Kylin (Chinese military). For the remaining 6 official Ubuntu-based distros (Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu Mate, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu, Ubuntu Studio) there's no corporate contributor mentioned.