Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 November 12

= November 12 =

Who owns the Wikimedia Foundation?
Who ultimately owns the Wikimedia Foundation? Is it Jimbo Wales or is it an independent company not owned by anyone?--Sau226 (talk) 15:14, 12 November 2017 (UTC)


 * The article Wikimedia Foundation explains the structures very clearly: as a non-profit, charitable organisation no-one can really be said to own it. Wymspen (talk) 16:29, 12 November 2017 (UTC)
 * For an introductory explanation of the legal principle in the United States, where the WMF is headquartered, read Who Really Owns a Nonprofit?. The short answer is that the public at large "owns" nonprofits. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  17:38, 12 November 2017 (UTC)
 * This has been confirmed in the courts.  See Charitable trust.   The government asked the question when it wanted to sell the Horserace Totalisator Board.   As it wasn't theirs to sell they passed the Horserace Betting and Olympic Lottery Act 2004 to correct the deficiency.   This came into effect in 2011 and the Tote is now apparently owned by a bookmaker.
 * Similar problems arose with the sale of the Trustee Savings Bank.  The government said nobody owned it.   After many conflicting court decisions  the House of Lords finally decided that it was owned by the state.   Legislation was passed to enable the sale to go ahead.   Again, the sell - off of Abbey National (a building society) resulted in litigation.   Our article Mutual organization says such entities are owned by their members.   The Norwich Union, a mutual insurance group which became a joint - stock company, was owned by the with - profit policyholders of the life insurance company. 82.13.208.70 (talk) 14:38, 13 November 2017 (UTC)
 * I would point out that the examples that 82.13.208.70 mentioned are all in the UK, while WF is a US organisation. The legal situation might happen to be the same, but that cannot be assumed. --ColinFine (talk) 18:24, 13 November 2017 (UTC)