Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia Co-Founder’s Fortune

How rich is Jimmy Wales?

Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales has a reputation that he cannot live up to. Most of the Google searches on him are about his fortune. The businessman is nowhere near as wealthy as many people think. He is not a multi-millionaire. Both in London, where the American now lives, and in Silicon Valley on the US west coast, one of the hotspots for Internet entrepreneurs, he is not a particularly good match. The fact that Jimmy Wales was one of the co-founders of Wikipedia did not make him a very rich man. The cherished Jimmy Wales’ net worth is € 1 million.

Merit as Wikipedia co-founder

However, the Londoner by choice does not seem to bother the fact that Wikipedia has so far not brought him any more money. Nonetheless, it’s amazing that one of the top 5 websites in the world hasn’t made its co-founder wealthier. However, Jimmy Wales loves what he does. And one must not forget here that Wikipedia is a charitable work. The free encyclopedia is financed by donations and is supposed to make knowledge available free of charge. The co-founders also live this philosophy and do not want to enrich themselves with Wikipedia. This joy in his work is an important part of the reward for the man from Alabama for his work. In his private life, too, things did not always go perfectly for the father of two. After all, he’s now married for the third time.

Incidentally, his early childhood laid the foundation for the entrepreneur’s later career. His mother was a teacher at a private school that Wales Grandma had previously run. The businessman is also said to have been able to read when he was just four years old. The World Book Encyclopedia is said to have presented his favorite reading. Jimmy Wales also studied finance at Auburn University in the USA.

From the life of Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Wales’s masters degree from the University of Alabama shows that Jimmy Wales is a smart man. He then went on to study at Indiana University, which also enjoys a very good reputation. The Briton by choice never submitted a dissertation there. Before making a career with Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales was a listed company on the Chicago Stock Exchange. He traded options and futures there and was able to make his first fortune. However the businessman does not consider himself a particularly rich man.

The Jimmy Wales laid the foundation for Wikipedia back in 2000. The internet platform, which almost every child knows today, was activated in January 2001. The fact that Wikipedia should become very successful so quickly surprised Wales itself a little. The co-founder has high standards for his platform. He himself said the following in 2009: “It must be our aim to be as good as Brockhaus!” For this reason, entrepreneurs are always happy when academics write articles for Wikipedia.

Consultant activities without a fee

In addition to Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales is involved in a wide variety of ways. For example, since 2012 the American has appeared as Advisor to the British Government in appearance without receiving any payment. He also works as a consultant at Google without any remuneration. There, the father of two is a member of an advisory board that deals with the development of guidelines on the subject of data deletion on the Internet. Jimmy Wales has also been on the board of the British Guardian Media Group since 20016. The entrepreneur is therefore not just about money, he simply enjoys making a difference in the world with his knowledge and talents.

Image sources:
Cover picture: Elian [CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
VGrigas (WMF) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons