View source for Jimmy Wales

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Jimmy Wales
| image              = Jimmy Wales - August 2019 (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Wales in August 2019
| birth_name         = Jimmy Donal Wales
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1966|8|7}}
| birth_place        = [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]], [[Alabama]], [[USA]]
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| other_names        = Jimbo (screen name)<ref name=Garside-2014-08-03>{{cite news|work=The Observer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2014/aug/03/observer-profile-jimmy-wales-wikipedia|title=Jimmy Wales: digital champion of free speech|first=Juliette|last=Garside|location=London|date=August 3, 2014|access-date=December 26, 2017}}</ref>
| education          = {{unbulleted list|[[Auburn University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])|[[University of Alabama|University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa]] ([[Master of Science|MS]])|[[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University, Bloomington]]}}
| occupation         = [[List of Internet entrepreneurs|Internet entrepreneur]], [[webmaster]], [[Trader (finance)|financial trader]] (formerly)
| net_worth          = ≈{{US$|1 million|link=no}}<ref name=Garside-2014-08-03/> (2014)
| title              = {{unbulleted list|President of [[Fandom (website)|Fandom, Inc.]] (2004–present)|Chair of [[Wikimedia Foundation]] (2003–2006)|Chair emeritus of [[Wikimedia Foundation]] (2006–present)}}
| successor          = [[Florence Devouard]] (as Chair of Wikimedia Foundation)
| boards             = {{unbulleted list|[[Wikimedia Foundation]]|[[Creative Commons]]|[[Sunlight Foundation]] (advisory board) (until September 2020)|[[MIT Center for Collective Intelligence]] (advisory board)|[[Guardian Media Group]] (until April 2017)<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/25/wikipedia-co-founder-jimmy-wales-exits-guardian-board-conflict/|title=Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales exits Guardian board over conflict of interest with Wikitribune news site|last=Williams |first=Christopher|date=April 25, 2017|work=The Telegraph|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref>}}
| spouse             = {{marriage|Pamela Green|1986|1993|end=div}}<br />{{marriage|Christine Rohan|1997|2011|end=div}}<br />{{marriage|[[Kate Garvey]]|2012}}
| children           = 3 daughters
| awards             = ''[[#Distinctions|See below]]''
| website            = {{Official URL}}
| module             = {{Listen
|embed       = yes
|title            = Jimmy Wales' voice
|filename    = Jimmy Wales voice.ogg
|type           = speech
|description = Recorded August 2014}}
| signature          = File:Jimmy Wales signature.svg
}}
'''Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|oʊ|n|əl|_|ˈ|w|eɪ|l|z}}; born August 7, 1966<ref name="Bio Jimmy Wales">* {{cite news|last=Horovitz|first=David|date=July 1, 2011|title=Jimmy Wales's benevolent Wikipedia wisdom|work=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|url=http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=227389|accessdate=December 12, 2011}}
* {{cite web|title=Jimmy Wales|url=http://www.clerk-of-the-court.com/default.asp|publisher=Monroe, Florida's County Clerk website (Marriage License Database)|accessdate=May 21, 2008}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/currentbiography2006clif|title=Current Biography Yearbook|date=February 28, 2007|publisher=H. W. Wilson|isbn=978-0-8242-10748|editor-last=Clifford Thompson}}
* {{cite book|title=Who's Who In America: Diamond Edition|date=October 12, 2005|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|isbn=978-0-8379-69909|edition=60th}}
</ref>) is an American-born [[British people|British]] [[Internet]] [[entrepreneur]]. He is one of the people who started [[Wikipedia]] and [[Wikia]].<ref name='WMF PR 2004-04-25'>{{cite web |url= http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_press_releases/500,000_Wikipedia_articles&oldid=473206|title=Wikipedia: 50 languages, 1/2 million articles |accessdate= April 10, 2009 |date= April 25, 2004 |work= Wikimedia Foundation Press Release|publisher=[[Wikimedia Foundation]] }} "''The Wikipedia project was founded in January 2001 by Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and philosopher Larry Sanger,''" quoted from the April 25, 2004 first-ever press release issued by the Wikimedia Foundation.<br>&nbsp;•{{cite web |url= http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Press_releases/January_2003&oldid=93032067 |title= Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, reaches its 100,000th article |accessdate=April 10, 2009 |date=January 21, 2003 |work= Wikipedia Press Release |publisher=[[Wikipedia]]}}</ref><ref name="Economist2008">{{cite news
|title= Brain scan: The free-knowledge fundamentalist
|url=http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11484062
|work=Technology Quarterly
|date= June 5, 2008
|accessdate=June 9, 2008}}</ref> Wales was born in [[Huntsville, Alabama]], [[United States]]. There, he went to [[Randolph School]]. He then earned bachelor’s and master’s [[degree (school)|degree]]s in [[finance]]. In 1996, he and two partners started [[Bomis]]. Bomis was an [[Internet]] portal with [[entertainment]] and [[adult]] content. The company gave money for [[Nupedia]] (2000–2003) and, after that, Wikipedia.

== Personal life ==
[[File:Christine and Jimmy Wales.jpg|thumb|right|Jimmy Wales with his second wife Christine]]
Wales has been [[marriage|married]] three times. He also has three children. Jimmy is of Jewish ancestry<ref name="ganda">{{Cite web |url= http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042 |title=Q & A |work=q-and-a.org |accessdate=May 20, 2010}}</ref><ref name="karasz">{{Cite web |url=http://www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2008/09/jimmy_wales |title=Jimmy Wales: Celebrities: Wmagazine.com |work=wmagazine.com |accessdate=May 20, 2010 |archive-date=November 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120085740/http://www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2008/09/jimmy_wales |url-status=dead }}</ref> When he was 20, Wales married Pam.<ref name="karasz"/> Pam was a worker at a store in [[Alabama]].<ref name="karasz"/> He met his second wife, Christine Rohan, through a friend in [[Chicago]].<ref name="ganda"/> They had a daughter before their marriage ended. Wales moved to [[San Diego]] in 1998. In 2002, he moved again to [[Florida]].<ref name=seattle>{{Cite web
 |url= http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003525473_btwikipedia15.html|title=Business & Technology: He's the "God-King," but you can call him Jimbo |work=seattletimes.nwsource.com |accessdate=May 20, 2010}}</ref> In 2007, he still lived there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-domains-.html?_r=2&oref=slogin|title=Jimmy Wales - Wikipedia - New York Times|work=[[The New York Times]]|accessdate=May 20, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> As of 2012 he lives in [[London]], [[England]].<ref name=hough>{{cite news|last=Hough|first=Stephen|title=Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia chief to advise Whitehall on policy|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/9137339/Jimmy-Wales-Wikipedia-chief-to-advise-Whitehall-on-policy.html|accessdate=May 30, 2012|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=March 11, 2012}}</ref> In 2012, Wales married [[Kate Garvey]], a government worker for [[Tony Blair]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Donnelly|first=Laura|title=Wiki wedding: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales marries Tony Blair's former aide|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9591824/Wiki-wedding-Wikipedia-founder-Jimmy-Wales-marries-Tony-Blairs-former-aide.html#|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=October 6, 2012}}</ref> Wales has three daughters: one with Rohan and two with Garvey.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-life-in-the-day-jimmy-wales-d9nc39bbb |title=A life in the day: Jimmy Wales |last=Jaffé-Pearce |first= Michèle |date=March 12, 2017 |work=The Sunday Times |access-date=June 8, 2018 |language=en |issn=0956-1382|quote=He lives in west London with his third wife, Kate Garvey, a former aide to Tony Blair, and daughters Ada, 5, and Jemima, 3. Kira, 16, his daughter with his second wife, lives in Florida.}}</ref>

Wales says that he follows the ideas of [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]]. He also says that he is a [[libertarianism|libertarian]] to some extent, meaning that he thinks people should be allowed to do whatever they want so long as they do not hurt others.

== Career ==
On January 15, 2001, with [[Larry Sanger]] and others, Wales started  Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free, [[open content]] encyclopedia. It grew and became popular very quickly. As Wikipedia became known to the public, he became the project’s promoter and [[spokesperson]]. He is often called a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has argued against the "co-" part. He said he was the only founder.<ref name="Brian Bergstein">{{cite news
|first=Brian
|last=Bergstein
|authorlink=Brian Bergstein
|title=Sanger says he co-started Wikipedia
|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17798723/
|publisher=[[MSNBC]]
|agency=Associated Press
|date=March 25, 2007
|accessdate=March 26, 2007
|quote=The nascent Web encyclopedia Citizendium springs from Larry Sanger, a philosophy Ph.D. who counts himself as a co-founder of Wikipedia, the site he now hopes to usurp. The claim does not seem particularly controversial—Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder. Yet the other founder, Jimmy Wales, is not happy about it.}}</ref><ref name="Parmy Olson">{{cite news
|first=Parmy
|last=Olson
|title=A New Kid On The Wiki Block
|url=https://www.forbes.com/2006/10/18/sanger-wikipedia-citizendium-face-cx_po_1018autofacescan02.html
|work=Forbes
|date=October 18, 2006
|accessdate=March 28, 2009
|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20121206005058/http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/18/sanger-wikipedia-citizendium-face-cx_po_1018autofacescan02.html
|archivedate=December 6, 2012
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Wales is on the Board of Trustees of the [[Wikimedia Foundation]]. In 2004, he co-founded [[Wikia]], a [[wiki]]-hosting service which tries to make money. In 2015, Wales started the [[Jimmy Wales Foundation]] for [[Freedom of speech|freedom of expression]], to try to help bloggers or internet activists who are in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Tech/Jimmy-Wales-wants-Wikipedia-to-change-the-world-again-403592|title=Jimmy Wales wants Wikipedia to change the world, again|work=The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{commonscat}}
{{Wikiquote}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wales, Jimbo}}
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Alabama]]
[[Category:Writers from Huntsville, Alabama]]
[[Category:Wikimedia Foundation]]
[[Category:Wikipedia people]]
[[Category:Libertarians]]
[[Category:British bloggers]]