Jimmy Wales

Description: (Internet Entrepreneur, Webmaster and Co-Founder of the Online Encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’)

Jimmy Wales is an American-British entrepreneur, famous as the co-founder of ‘Wikipedia’, the free online encyclopedia. ‘Wikipedia’ is a non-profit organization whereas his other company ‘Wikia’ is a for-profit web hosting organisation. As a child, he received a unique kind of private school education, where he spent many hours studying encyclopedias. As a teenager, he transferred to a college-prep school and earned a master’s degree in finance. He also taught in two universities and later worked as a finance trader. Fascinated by the Internet, he quit his job to start a male-oriented website ‘Bomis' that was unsuccessful. He then started an online encyclopedia, ’Nupedia’, with Larry Sanger. It later became ‘Wikipedia’ and was a wildly successful venture. Then, he started a non-profit company ‘Wikimedia Foundation’. But relations between him and Sanger soured and he tried to denounce Sanger as the co-founder of ‘Wikipedia.' He has served on the boards of many think-tanks and tech corporates, even advising the UK government on cyber-activity matters. He has received many awards and honorary degrees from universities across the world.

Overview

Birthday August 7, 1966 (Leo)
Born In United States
Alternative names Jimmy Donal Wales
Height 168 cm
Spouse/Ex- Kate Garvey, Christine Rohan (m. 1997–2010), Pamela Green
Parents Jimmy Sr
Doris Ann (née Dudley)
Children Ada Wales, Kira Wales
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