Hello Illario, Quickly replying to these points about the 'Enterprise' API project since it's pertinent to your message - but not wanting to derail from the substantive purpose of this email thread. For any followup, please come to the project talkpage.[1]
My reply comments inline: On Sun, 5 Jul 2026 at 18:02, Ilario valdelli via Wikimedia-l < [email protected]> wrote: > First, a request for whoever works on revenue. The essay proposes > expanding Enterprise into verification services that AI companies would pay > for. > When the essay was originally published, Christophe, my colleagues and I met to discuss his proposal. We hope to continue these conversations during Wikimania in both the main program and side-events. Anyone also attending this year: please come and say hello! > Enterprise has existed since 2021. Revenue in FY 2023-24 was 3.4M USD, > about 1.8% of Foundation revenue; the figure comes from Christophe's own > footnotes. > Since then, there was another annual financial report covering FY 24-25. It reported 8.3M USD, about 4%.[2] The FY 25-26 period has only just concluded by the project's annual report will be published later this year (coinciding with the WMF audit report). Nevertheless, the FY 26-27 Annual Plan calls for $18.5M in annual contracts.[3] > Five years, in the middle of the largest spending boom on data this > industry has ever seen, and the buyer has not shown up. > While some will certainly say that the above numbers are 'too much' and some will say it is 'too little'. We have indeed announced many new partners.[4] > I am not saying the thesis is wrong. I am saying the numbers we already > have contradict it, and understanding why should be the first task of that > group, before any plan to scale. > Importantly, the above numbers and targets are demonstrating steady, sensible growth. The point has always been about sustainable diversification and NOT maximisation of revenue. Much of that 'spending boom' you refer to *one-time* licensing deals (or lawsuits) for publishers. but as we know, Wikimedia content is already freely licensed. You can see the project principles that reiterate the adherence to F/LOSS (and also that there would only ever be a maximum of 30% WMF revenue from commercial sources) here.[5] Is the product underinvested? Is the price of something that is also > legally free bound to stay near zero? Is the demand somewhere we have not > looked? I don't know, and I would distrust anyone who answers too quickly. I also want to highlight the quarterly product updates[6] and in particular the recent(ish) news that Wikidata is now available in this API platform[7] and that the extent of what can be obtained for free via it has been massively increased.[8] This refers back to the Principles that the *content* and features is the same for everyone - including free access - and there is also now an "exceptional access" request process for mission-aligned usecases that require high-volume/speed.[5] As above - this is all about ensuring a sustainable approach. The money follows the mission, not the other way around. > Liam Wyatt [note: although I'm writing this from my gmail account - which is the easiest because it has been subscribed here for many years - for the avoidance of doubt, this email is on behalf of my [email protected] role at the WMF as Tech Partnerships and community advocacy for the Enterprise team. Thank you.] [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise#Governance [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/FY26-27 [4] https://enterprise.wikimedia.com/blog/tag/partner/ [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Principles [6] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Updates [7] https://enterprise.wikimedia.com/blog/wikidata-api-endpoints-wikimedia-enterprise/ [8] https://enterprise.wikimedia.com/blog/enhanced-free-api/
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