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Wales' latest scam
Wales was caught editing his own profile on Wikipedia in a bit of a scandal in an effort to downplay [[Larry Sanger]]'s role in the company and distance himself from his Bomis past.<ref>[http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html ''Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio''] Wired. Accessed 17 March 2008</ref>
Wales was caught editing his own profile on Wikipedia in a bit of a scandal in an effort to downplay [[Larry Sanger]]'s role in the company and distance himself from his Bomis past.<ref>[http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html ''Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio''] Wired. Accessed 17 March 2008</ref>
Wales has accepted a new job as executive director of strategy and digital community for [[The People’s Operator]] (TPO), a cell phone startup company with ties to the British [[Labour Party]]. Wales owns 10% of the new company. TPO has struggled to gain subscribers in the UK and the United States,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11156163/Wikipedia-founder-to-float-mobile-phone-company.html|title=
In 2014, Wales accepted a new job as executive director of strategy and digital community for [[The People’s Operator]] (TPO), a cell phone startup company with ties to the British [[Labour Party]]. Wales owns 10% of the new company. TPO has struggled to gain subscribers in the UK and the United States,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11156163/Wikipedia-founder-to-float-mobile-phone-company.html|title=
Wikipedia founder to float mobile phone company|first=Graham|last=Ruddick|work=The Telegraph|date=October 11, 2014|accessdate=October 14, 2014}}</ref> and it has lost over 90% of its market capitalization.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/the-peoples-floperator|title=
Wikipedia founder to float mobile phone company|first=Graham|last=Ruddick|work=The Telegraph|date=October 11, 2014|accessdate=October 14, 2014}}</ref> and it has lost over 90% of its market capitalization.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/the-peoples-floperator|title=
The People's Floperator|first=Steven|last=Frazer|work=Shares Magazine|date=September 30, 2016|accessdate=April 25, 2017}}</ref>
The People's Floperator|first=Steven|last=Frazer|work=Shares Magazine|date=September 30, 2016|accessdate=April 25, 2017}}</ref> Wales became the Chairman of TPO's Board of Directors upon the death of its founder, [[Andrew Rosenfeld]] on February 8, 2015. Wales then ran TPO into the ground while drawing an impressive salary. On January 25, 2017, Wales stepped down from leading TPO.<ref>http://www.investegate.co.uk/the-people-soperator--tpop-/rns/board-changes--subscription---trading-update/201701250700070218V/</ref>
In order to replace TPO as his source of income, Wales decided to found a for-profit news organization, WikiTribune. In addition to paying Wales a salary, WikiTribune will hire ten professional journalists and also work with volunteer editors and fact checkers. Unlike Wikipedia which is owned by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, WikiTribune is owned by , a private company. WikiTribune is being financed by crowd-sourcing with both startup donations and pledges of monthly subscription payments. Because of the obvious conflict between WikiTribune and The Guardian, Wales was forced to resign from the Guardian's board, where he had been serving for one year. To date, he has not been forced to resign from either the WMF Board or the Tide Foundation's WMF Endowment Advisory Board.
==Controversies==
==Controversies==