[Foundation-l] A train without destination?

Mon Mar 17 06:55:00 UTC 2008

Thomas Dalton wrote:
>>  The WMF has no members.  It was incorporated that way.  The Board could
>>  sell it, but the implications of that kind of move are absolutely
>>  mind-boggling.
>>     
> This is a little off-topic, but I'm curious as to what you mean by
> that. In what sense could they sell the foundation? They could sell
> all the assets, but the proceeds would still need to be spent on
> something which furthers the stated goals of the foundation, they
> certainly couldn't pocket the cash.
It's all a little quirky, and I want to make it clear that just because 
something is legally possible doesn't mean that anyone intends to go 
down that road.

The assets, of course, are more than just cash in the bank and a pile of 
servers.  The good will and trademarks would make up the bulk of the 
sales price.  They could be left with a shell company, and a huge bank 
balance.  I agree that they couldn't pocket the task, except perhaps for 
any sales commissions; a 10% commission on a billion dollars is more 
than chump change.  The proceeds could then be put into some other 
venture consistent with the stated goals, but which excludes the 
communities. Nor would there have been a need to ask permission of the 
communities before selling.

The buyers, meanwhile, would have the assets, including the trademarks 
which they could then exploit to their hearts' content, without any need 
to pay attention to the writers who have no contract with them.  The 
free licence would mean that they couldn't claim copyright on any of the 
content, but they don't need that, nor would they need to provide any 
kind of general data dump.  Anyone wanting to use the material would be 
legally able to pick off one article at a time.  By the time users would 
have worked out how to make the material re-usable, they would already 
have made their money in ad revenue and they wouldn't give a damn.  Even 
after that they would continue to receive a perhaps somewhat reduced but 
still good share of traffic.

I'm not predicting that such a nightmare scenario would happen, only 
describing _how_ it could happen in answer to your question.  Sleep well.

Ec