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Wikimedia Foundation history
Wikimedia Foundation company history timeline
Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and online community organizer/philosophy professor Larry Sanger founded Wikipedia in 2001 as an Internet encyclopedia to supplement Nupedia.
The Wikimedia Foundation was incorporated in Florida on June 20, 2003.
There were plans to license the use of the Wikipedia trademark for some products such as books or DVDs. It applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark Wikipedia on September 14, 2004.
In April 2005, the United States Internal Revenue Service approved the foundation as an educational foundation in the category "Adult, Continuing education", meaning all contributions to the foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes.
On December 11, 2006, the foundation's board noted that the corporation could not become the membership organization initially planned but never implemented due to an inability to meet the registration requirements of Florida statutory law.
On September 25, 2007, the foundation's board gave notice that the operations would be moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Wikimedia Conference 2017 by René_Zieger – 180
Wikimedia Foundation All Hands 2018 - Myleen Hollero 59
The board appointed Janeen Uzzell as Chief Operating Officer in 2019.
In September 2020, WMF's application to become an observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was blocked after objections from the government of China over the existence of a Wikimedia Foundation affiliate in Taiwan.
On October 25, 2021, the foundation launched Wikimedia Enterprise, a commercial product designed to sell and deliver Wikipedia's content directly to Big Tech companies.
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Wikimedia Foundation competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creative Commons | 2002 | $2.0M | 161 | - |
| AAAS | 1848 | $50.0M | 181 | 4 |
| One Economy | 2000 | $50.0M | 50 | - |
| The reThink Group | 1995 | $850,000 | 50 | 4 |
| The Jed Foundation | 2000 | $16.0M | 72 | 6 |
| Jewish Voice Ministries International | 1967 | $5.0M | 50 | 3 |
| American Academy of Neurology | 1948 | $50.0M | 376 | 7 |
| Core Knowledge Foundation | 1986 | $10.0M | 29 | - |
| ResourceUMC | - | $6.2M | 155 | - |
| National Stroke Association | 1984 | $2.6M | 20 | - |
Wikimedia Foundation history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Wikimedia Foundation, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Wikimedia Foundation. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Wikimedia Foundation. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Wikimedia Foundation. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Wikimedia Foundation and its employees or that of Zippia.
Wikimedia Foundation may also be known as or be related to Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation Inc and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.