Jimmy Wales

Biography

Jimmy Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1966 and was taught in his early years at a small private school run by his mother and grandmother. He went on to Randolph School, took a bachelor's degree in finance at Auburn University in 1986, and then studied in the finance doctoral programmes of the University of Alabama, where he earned a master's degree, and Indiana University, leaving without completing a PhD.

In 1994 he joined Chicago Options Associates, a trading firm in Chicago, and later became an internet entrepreneur. In 1996 he and two partners started the web portal Bomis, whose income paid for Nupedia, an expert-reviewed online encyclopedia launched in March 2000 with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief. When Nupedia's slow review process stalled it, the two set up a wiki alongside it, and Wikipedia went live on 15 January 2001. Wales became the project's chief promoter and public face, though he has disputed Sanger's standing as co-founder.

In 2003 Wales created the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, transferring Wikipedia's domains and rights to it, and chaired its board until 2006; he has since held the title of chairman emeritus and a board seat reserved for the community founder. In 2004 he co-founded the for-profit wiki host Wikia, later Fandom, with Angela Beesley, serving as its CEO until 2006. In January 2012 he backed the English Wikipedia blackout against the SOPA and PIPA bills. His later ventures include the news site WikiTribune (2017) and the social network WT Social (2019).