Google, the company we all know for holding the lion’s share of the search market, has donated $2 million to Wikimedia, the company behind free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. In the 7 years since Wikipedia has been out there, this is the (second) largest amount of money anyone has donated to keep the site up and running – and most importantly, ad-free.
“Wikipedia is one of the greatest triumphs of the Internet. This vast repository of community-generated content is an invaluable resource to anyone who is online,” commented Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
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It is the most amount of money Wikipedia got, but it is not the first time Wikipedia gets 2$ million. Six months ago Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, donated the same amount that Google donated earlier this week - $2 million. Thanks to Google’s contribution, Wikipedia managed to reach and go beyond its $10.6 million revenue target for the fiscal year ending in June.
As you may already know, from time to time Wikimedia asks users to donate to keep the Wikipedia site ad-free and capable of providing the great quality content we’ve grown accustomed to. It is the Wikipedia users via their donations that support the free online library. During the 2009-2010 fundraiser completed this January, more than $8 million were donated by a total of 240,000 individuals. The $8 million amount represented 3 quarters of Wikipedia’s planned revenue for the fiscal year – Google’s contribution more than made up for the rest.
“We are very pleased and grateful. This is a wonderful gift, and we celebrate it as recognition of the long-term alignment and friendship between Google and Wikimedia. Both organizations are committed to bringing high quality information to hundreds of millions of individuals every day, and to making the Internet better for everyone,” commented Wikipedia founder and Wikimedia Foundation board member, Jimmy Wales.
Google, the company we all know for holding the lion’s share of the search market, has donated $2 million to Wikimedia, the company behind free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. In the 7 years since Wikipedia has been out there, this is the (second) largest amount of money anyone has donated to keep the site up and running – and most importantly, ad-free.