Archive:Press releases/Wikia, Inc. is not the commercial counterpart to Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation

From Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki

There have been several news reports stating that Wikia, Inc. was the commercial counterpart of Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation, or that Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation were going to develop search engines.

Neither is true.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that operates wikis (a form of Internet sites) with an educational and informational goal, the best known of which is Wikipedia, the Free encyclopedia. Wikia, Inc. is a for-profit corporation that operates other wikis on a variety of topics.

Wikimedia and Wikia are distinct and separate entities with no managerial links. The only relationship between the two is that Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikimedia Foundation, is also one of the founders of Wikia. The Wikimedia Foundation is entirely funded by donations and grants, and does not run commercial operations. Wikia supports the Wikimedia Foundation financially through donations and will hopefully continue to do so in the future, but there are no formal ties.

Florence Devouard is the Chair of the board of the Wikimedia Foundation, and Jimmy Wales has the honorary title of Chair Emeritus.

To summarize:

  • The Wikimedia Foundation, the parent organization that runs Wikipedia, is a nonprofit that runs entirely on private donations and grants. It does not run commercial operations.
  • Wikimedia is not developing a search engine and does not plan to.
  • Wikia is not the commercial counterpart to Wikipedia.