Elon Musk Pokes Wikimedia Foundation, Possible Acquisition in View?

Elon Musk, the owner of the X app has publicly taken a dig at the Wikimedia Foundation, asking his over 160 million followers if they have ever wondered why the company behind the encyclopedia-like Wikipedia wants so much money.

Wikipedia Soliciting Donations

There were some unconfirmed rumors that Wikipedia was seeking donations from its users. Several entities feared that the company was on the verge of financial doom. It was later explained that the message was crafted by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. At that time, this non-profit organization claimed to have raised $165.2m across ~13m+ donations in fiscal year 2022 alone. 

“If you can comfortably afford it this year, please join the readers who donate,” the request for donation reads.

In his recent post, Musk explained that Wikipedia does not need so much funds to run its operations, citing that “You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone!” 

Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?

It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone!

So, what’s the money for? Inquiring minds want to know …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2023

Therefore, he requested that the Wikimedia Foundation offer an explanation to its inquisitive readers who are curious about what the money is meant for.

Elon Musk Tipped Wikipedia is Not for Sale

For a business man who is more geared towards the development of electric vehicles and space exploration technologies, when it comes to discussing the operations of media outlets, Musk happens to be one of the most controversial individuals with a very vocal stance. He did it with the Twitter, before he acquired the company and rebranded it to the X app. 

Amongst many reasons he gave for purchasing the firm in a $44 billion bid is the claim that he was bored by how the company was being operated. In his controversial nature, he suggested that he was the “fire-breathing dragon” that Twitter needed instead of Parag Agrawal, the Chief Executive Officer of Twitter at the time. 

His takeover of the X app began with just owning a few stake, about 9.2%, of the company after which he was invited to join the board of directors. Instead of joining the board members, he bought the entire company and became the CEO before appointing Linda Yacarrino to take over from him.

Fearing that he might be trying to do the same thing he did with Twitter, founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales has clearly stated that the company is not for sale.