Wikipedia board vote eliminates longtime foe of site's commercialization
The nonprofit parent of Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, has dumped Florence Devouard as its chair and replaced her with board member Michael Snow, while also appointing Ting Chen, an editor of Wikipedia's German and Chinese editions. Venture capitalist Roger McNamee is surely grinning as he thrums his guitar: Devouard has long opposed efforts to profit off the volunteer-written encyclopedia, an idea advanced by McNamee, a cofounder of private-equity firm Elevation Partners. McNamee, whose partner Bono is a buddy of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who has helped broker large donations to the foundation, is believed to have given the board change his approval.