> Wikipedia is a non-profit and is thus distinctly different from Facebook. At an operational level they're not much different; both rely on generation of reve

> Wikipedia is a non-profit and is thus distinctly different from Facebook. At an operational level they're not much different; both rely on generation of revenue to cover costs and to compensate their permanent staff, and both can make profits which can be reinvested in the organisation or distributed as dividends or spent on 'stuff'. Essentially the only operational difference is that all of the non-profit's untaxed profits must originate from activities aligned with their primary stated function, whereas Facebook is free to earn from other unrelated business activities. Furthermore the officers of a non-profit can't dip into the profits for self-enrichment since the profits belong to the organisation ( hence untaxed ), but since they extract their remuneration upstream of the profits that's not a major issue.