Short answers, pulled from the story.
Fandom, Inc. began its journey on the 18th of October 2004, launched under the name Wikicities by Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley Starling. These co-founders also established Wikipedia, but Fandom operates as a for-profit Delaware company rather than a non-profit organization.
The project was renamed Wikia on the 27th of March 2006 and later became known as Fandom. This rebranding marked the transition from a simple wiki hosting service to a massive media conglomerate that hosts approximately 1,500 wikis in 48 languages within nine months of the name change.
Former AOL CEO Jon Miller acquired Fandom in 2018 backed by private equity firm TPG Capital. This acquisition initiated an aggressive expansion strategy that included purchasing Screen Junkies, Curse Media, and the entire portfolio of Red Ventures to dominate the gaming and entertainment media landscape.
A California court ruled in December 2025 that Fandom must compensate approximately 860,000 people for data leaks and unauthorized sharing of user information with third-party companies like Meta. This ruling addressed privacy violations and followed reports that major brand advertisements appeared on wiki articles containing obscene material.
High-profile wikis such as the Minecraft Wiki, the Zelda Wiki, the South Park Wiki, and the League of Legends Wiki migrated to independent hosts to escape invasive advertising and corporate control. This exodus was driven by Fandom's prioritization of revenue generation over community needs and the introduction of AI-generated content that threatened human oversight.