Comment Re:I really doubt it. (Score 2, Interesting) 380
The main guy behind Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales) was asked about finances a coupla weeks back in an interview: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg1932 5896.300-interview-knowledge-to-the-people.html
Q:How does Wikipedia manage financially?
A: It doesn't cost that much to run. Last year we spent around $1.5 million, and the year before that $750,000. The vast majority comes from public donations of between $50 to $100. Most costs go on expanding expensive physical hardware, the servers that host the site.
Q: You don't carry advertising. Can you keep it out?
A: I would be opposed to introducing advertising, but we have never said we'll absolutely never run it. The WikiMedia Foundation is a not-for-profit charity and we have goals which we don't have the money for, but I think there are better ways to get revenue.
Q: Will Wikipedia ever be sold to big media?
A: Two years after founding Wikipedia, I donated it to the WikiMedia foundation. I think this is both the dumbest and the smartest thing I ever did. The dumbest because it's probably worth $3 billion - and I don't have $3 billion! It's also the smartest thing I did because it wouldn't have been anywhere near so successful had I not built it this way. So the chances of it being bought are quite low.
So "quite low" chance of a sale to someone...but not impossible. Maybe that bunch who run the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine (archive.org) could run wikipedia...where do they get their dough from?
Q:How does Wikipedia manage financially?
A: It doesn't cost that much to run. Last year we spent around $1.5 million, and the year before that $750,000. The vast majority comes from public donations of between $50 to $100. Most costs go on expanding expensive physical hardware, the servers that host the site.
Q: You don't carry advertising. Can you keep it out?
A: I would be opposed to introducing advertising, but we have never said we'll absolutely never run it. The WikiMedia Foundation is a not-for-profit charity and we have goals which we don't have the money for, but I think there are better ways to get revenue.
Q: Will Wikipedia ever be sold to big media?
A: Two years after founding Wikipedia, I donated it to the WikiMedia foundation. I think this is both the dumbest and the smartest thing I ever did. The dumbest because it's probably worth $3 billion - and I don't have $3 billion! It's also the smartest thing I did because it wouldn't have been anywhere near so successful had I not built it this way. So the chances of it being bought are quite low.
So "quite low" chance of a sale to someone...but not impossible. Maybe that bunch who run the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine (archive.org) could run wikipedia...where do they get their dough from?
