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Topics: Elon Musk
Stewart Perrie
Topics: Elon Musk
Elon Musk says he will give Wikipedia a cheeky $1 billion on one condition.
The free online encyclopaedia is always looking for donations from people around the world.
A dedicated team of volunteers helps keep the site up to date and they continue to translate various articles into different languages so they can be accessible to all.
And they could be in for one hell of a donation.
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Musk is the world's richest man and he's prepared to give Wikipedia a cheque with a lot of zeros on it.
He wrote on Twitter/X: "I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to D**kipedia."
The post came after he posted a screenshot from Wikipedia where co-founder Jimmy Wales was appealing for money.
Musk didn't seem like he appreciated the appeal and used a snooze emoji in his original post.
In a follow-up message, he questioned why the site is always asking for cash.
"Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?" the tech billionaire asked.
"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..."
This question was actually answered a while back.
Their donation drives usually rack up millions of dollars and everyone wanted to know what all that leftover cash was being spent on.
Samantha Lien, a spokeswoman for the Wikimedia Foundation, told The Washington Post: "Based on guidance from the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, our reserve amounts to one year of operating budget.
“If there were circumstances that affected our ability to raise those funds during that period, we could end up in an urgent situation — the reserve is a safety net to protect Wikipedia against such a possibility.”
So, basically, they always want to top up their rainy day fund just in case things get very wet, which makes financial sense.
Considering it's one of the most popular websites on the entire internet, you wouldn't want to open the page one day to discover it's offline.
Elon Musk, on the other hand, probably shouldn't be throwing away his money for a few laughs.
His wealth has just dropped by a casual $16 billion after Tesla released its 2023 third-quarter earnings report.
Shares in the company dropped 9.3 per cent in the wake of the document, which put a dent in Musk's vast wealth.