The problem is that if it is ever sold the community will likely migrate away (unless the company buying manages to keep the same open and democratic feeling to

The problem is that if it is ever sold the community will likely migrate away (unless the company buying manages to keep the same open and democratic feeling to it). I'm also curious what the potential for advertising on Wikipedia is. I think throwing up adds on Wikipedia would reduce it's encyclopedic nature to people. Not to mention that Wikipedia has received ridiculously large donations from large companies and that would no longer be true if it got bought out, so the actual costs of running it would probably be really high.