Fandom, Inc

Fandom

File:Fandom logo.svg Logo used since 2021
Company type	Private
Industry	Media, internet
Founded	October 18, 2004 (2004-10-18)
Founder	Jimmy Wales, Angela Beesley Starling
Headquarters	United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Perkins Miller (CEO until 2025), Jon Miller (co-chairman), Jimmy Wales (co-chairman)
Products	Wiki hosting platform, entertainment news, e-commerce sites (Fanatical)
Owner	TPG Capital, Jon Miller (via Integrated Media Co.)
Website	fandom.com

Fandom (known as FANDOM between 2017 and 2021, and previously called Wikicities and Wikia) is a media enterprise supported by the private equity firm TPG Capital. This platform offers wiki pages enhanced with social networking elements, covering subjects such as video games, films, literature, and television series. Its portfolio includes entertainment properties like GameSpot and TV Guide, extensive multimedia databases including GameFAQs, Metacritic, and ComicVine, as well as e-commerce sites such as Fanatical.

Established in October 2004 by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales alongside Angela Beesley Starling, Fandom functions as a privately owned Delaware corporation. The company was acquired in 2018 by TPG Inc. and Jon Miller through Integrated Media Co.

Utilizing the open-source MediaWiki software—the same technology that powers Wikipedia—Fandom operates on a for-profit basis, generating income via advertising and commercial content sales. The majority of user-generated contributions are released under copyleft licenses. Additionally, Fandom manages an editorial division delivering news related to pop culture and gaming.

Accessible at the domain fandom.com, the site ranks within the top 50 globally most visited websites, achieving 50th position as of October 2023. According to Similarweb data, nearly 25.79% of its visitors come from the United States, with Russia contributing 7.76% of traffic.

2004–2009: Inception and expansion

Fandom originated on October 18, 2004, under the name Wikicities, founded by Jimmy Wales—co-founder of Wikipedia—and Angela Beesley Starling, who held roles as chairman emeritus and advisory board member of the Wikimedia Foundation respectively. Wales initially aimed to create a platform connecting individuals from shared cities or regions.

The company rebranded as Wikia on March 27, 2006. Shortly before this change, it secured $4 million in venture capital funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and First Round Capital. Nine months later, Amazon contributed $10 million during a Series B financing round. By September 2006, Wikia hosted roughly 1,500 wikis across 48 different languages.

As time passed, Wikia absorbed several independent fan wikis such as LyricWiki, Nukapedia, Uncyclopedia, and WoWWiki. Gil Penchina described Wikia as "the rest of the library and magazine rack" in contrast to Wikipedia’s encyclopedia emphasis. The platform’s content tended toward informal and entertainment-related material, supporting multimedia features including maps and embedded YouTube videos.

2010–2015: Leadership transitions

By the year 2010, wikis on the platform were available in 188 languages. In October 2011, Craig Palmer—former CEO of Gracenote—took over from Penchina as CEO. Co-founder Beesley Starling departed in February 2012 to launch ChalkDrop.com. Later that year in November, Wikia raised $10.8 million in Series C funding from Institutional Venture Partners, Bessemer Ventures Partners, and Amazon.com. This was followed by a $15 million Series D round in August 2014 led by Digital Garage alongside Amazon, Bessemer, and Institutional Venture Partners, bringing total investment to $39.8 million.

On March 4, 2015, Walker Jacobs—previously executive vice president at Turner Broadcasting System—was appointed chief operating officer. In December of that year, the company introduced the Fan Contributor Program aimed at increasing engagement among its user community.

2016–2018: Emergence of the Fandom Brand

On January 25, 2016, Wikia introduced an entertainment news platform called Fandom. Later that year, on October 4, Wikia rebranded itself as "Fandom powered by Wikia" to better reflect the identity of the Fandom site. Despite this change, the parent company continued to operate under the name Wikia, Inc. until 2019. During this period, the main website address transitioned from wikia.com/fandom to simply fandom.com. In December 2016, Dorth Raphaely, who had previously served as general manager at Bleacher Report, was appointed as chief content officer.

On May 18, 2017, Fandom updated its visual identity by unveiling a new logo characterized by uppercase typography and a flat design aesthetic.

2018–present: Expansion through Acquisitions and Corporate Developments

In February 2018, Jon Miller, former CEO of AOL and supported by private equity firm TPG Capital, acquired Fandom. Following this acquisition, Miller assumed the role of co-chairman alongside founder Jimmy Wales, while Andrew Doyle from TPG took on the position of interim CEO. That July, Fandom expanded its portfolio by acquiring Screen Junkies from Defy Media. Later in December, it purchased Curse Media, which included Gamepedia and other assets such as D&D Beyond, Futhead, Muthead, and StrawPoll.me.

Perkins Miller, previously CEO of StubHub, was named Fandom’s CEO in February 2019. Around this time, Wikia completed its domain migration fully to fandom.com, with select wikis focused on serious topics relocating to wikia.org. In June 2019, efforts began to modernize the platform with an upgrade to a newer MediaWiki version; the Unified Community Platform (UCP), built on MediaWiki 1.33, officially launched in March 2020 for newly created wikis.

In 2020, Fandom divested Curse Network properties to Magic Find. Starting in November of that year, Gamepedia wikis were transitioned to the fandom.com domain as part of search engine optimization strategies.

February 2021 saw Fandom acquire Fanatical, an e-commerce platform specializing in digital games and related merchandise owned by Focus Multimedia. The following month, Fandom revised its terms of service to ban deadnaming of transgender users across all sites after controversy arose on the Star Wars wiki Wookieepedia. Additional LGBTQ-oriented policies were introduced in June 2021, including links to queer-friendly resources.

June 2021 marked the launch of FandomDesktop, a revamped desktop interface replacing previous legacy skins. Two months later in August, Fandom revealed a fresh logo accompanied by the tagline "For the love of fans." By the end of 2021, all remaining wikis hosted under wikia.org had completed their migration to fandom.com.

On April 13, 2022, Hasbro acquired D&D Beyond from Fandom. StrawPoll.me was discontinued in August of that year. Then on October 3, Fandom expanded significantly by acquiring several prominent entertainment and gaming properties from Red Ventures including GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News, and Comic Vine.

In early 2023 and again in January 2024, layoffs impacted teams at GameSpot, Metacritic, and Giant Bomb due to revenue shortfalls. By October 2024, approximately 11% of employees were let go amid restructuring driven by missed financial targets; affected groups included sales and management personnel as well as staff from GameSpot UK and Honest Trailers.

In February 2025, Fandom introduced "FanDNA Helix," an AI-powered advertising system that utilizes site content and user data to deliver targeted advertisements. In May 2025, Giant Bomb was sold back to its original team.

Starting in July 2025, generative AI technology began being employed to translate entire wikis for non-English-speaking audiences. In October 2025, CEO Perkins Miller stepped down amid ongoing financial difficulties and organizational restructuring; reports cited user experience problems caused by intrusive advertisements that affected site performance on certain devices.

Wikis

Articles within a Fandom community aim to deliver thorough and detailed information on particular subjects that extend beyond the scope of Wikipedia. This encompasses extensive coverage of video games, gameplay elements, storylines, and other niche topics. Unlike Wikipedia’s strict adherence to a neutral point of view, Fandom permits wikis to adopt specific viewpoints, though many communities still choose to maintain neutrality at the local level.

Fandom enforces more relaxed image usage policies compared to Wikimedia projects, allowing for a broad range of visual content. All textual contributions from users must be released under free licenses, predominantly the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Certain wikis opt for licenses containing noncommercial restrictions or the GNU Free Documentation License. Fandom’s guidelines forbid hate speech, defamatory content, pornography, and copyright violations, while permitting other material provided it does not replicate existing wiki content.

Control over wikis does not reside with their creators; no individual user holds greater authority in conflicts. Governance is largely consensus-driven and collaborative among communities, although Fandom reserves the right to intervene when consensus cannot be reached.

Technology

As of May 2023, Fandom runs on a significantly customized iteration of MediaWiki software based on version 1.39. This includes proprietary extensions designed to boost social interaction features such as blogs, chat systems, badges, forums, and multimedia content, while removing some advanced user functionalities and skins. Notably, support for the Monobook skin was discontinued in May 2018 to comply with GDPR regulations.

In August 2016, Fandom adopted a service-oriented architecture approach, simplifying its platform by eliminating numerous custom extensions and wiki-specific features. This transformation facilitated the creation of alternative functionalities tailored to community requirements while enhancing scalability and ease of maintenance.

Entertainment news

In 2016, Wikia introduced Fandom as an entertainment media platform that combines contributions from volunteer "Fandom Contributors" with an editorial team. Fandom centers on pop culture and fan-related subjects such as video games, films, and television series, offering fan perspectives, interviews, reviews, instructional guides, videos, and sponsored news aimed at promoting various properties.

That same year marked the rebranding of Wikia’s entire platform under the Fandom name. By early 2019, all wikis transitioned from the wikia.com domain to fandom.com to facilitate greater integration with Fandom’s dedicated wiki applications on iOS and Android devices.

Wiki partnerships

Fandom has formed official collaborations to develop authorized "official" wikis for diverse intellectual properties. In 2012, it joined forces with Sony Online Entertainment to launch the inaugural "Wikia Official Community" for PlanetSide 2, offering exclusive materials and support. In 2014, Fandom partnered with Roddenberry Enterprises for the Trek Initiative—a Star Trek-centric wiki featuring promotional content commemorating the franchise’s 50th anniversary.

Other collaborations include alliances with 2K Games for Civilization: Beyond Earth and Warner Bros Interactive for Shadow of Mordor. Additionally, Fandom cooperates with Lionsgate Media to promote Starz networks and associated film franchises through wiki content, articles, and advertising campaigns.

Esports

In 2021, the United States Navy engaged Fandom to oversee and promote esports competitions and Twitch broadcasts, thereby broadening Fandom's footprint within the competitive gaming media landscape.

Fandom Games (YouTube channel)

After acquiring Curse Media, Fandom transformed the Curse Entertainment YouTube channel into Fandom Games. This channel includes the series Honest Game Trailers, which was originally hosted on the Smosh Games channel until Fandom's purchase of Screen Junkies.

OpenServing

OpenServing was a short-lived web publishing platform introduced by Fandom in December 2006, providing complimentary wiki hosting with a revenue-sharing model for creators through advertising income. Although thousands applied initially, no active communities were established, and the initiative was quietly terminated by January 2008. The service utilized a customized version of MediaWiki and intended to support various open-source platforms but failed to attract sustainable interest.

Armchair GM

ArmchairGM, developed by Aaron Wright, Dan Lewis, Robert Lefkowitz, and programmer David Pean, was a sports-focused forum and wiki site launched in early 2006. Based in the United States, it sought to broaden its scope to include British sports within its first year. The platform, built on MediaWiki, incorporated a Digg-style system for article voting, blog-like commentary allowing user interaction, and diverse post formats such as news, opinion pieces, and "locker room" discussions.

Fandom acquired ArmchairGM in late 2006 for $2 million. Following the acquisition, the site's framework was adapted for use across other Fandom properties. By January 2010, however, Fandom ceased supporting ArmchairGM's specialized software features. Between September 2010 and February 2011, the site's encyclopedia content was merged into Fandom’s main offerings while original blog posts were removed, effectively ending ArmchairGM's standalone presence.

Beginning in February 2008, the software behind ArmchairGM was gradually released as open source starting with the SocialProfile MediaWiki extension. This release process concluded in August 2011 with the full publication of the original ArmchairGM codebase (known as wikia-ny). Since then, these social functionalities have been maintained by volunteer developers within the MediaWiki community under the GNU General Public License version 2 or later. The source code is hosted on Wikimedia Foundation servers and mirrored on GitHub.

Search engines

Wikia, Inc. initially proposed developing a copyleft search engine called "Wikiasari" in 2004; however, this project became inactive by 2005. The "public alpha" version of Wikia Search debuted on January 7, 2008, operating from the USSHC underground data center. Despite this launch, technology media gave unfavorable reviews to its search interface, leading to the project's discontinuation in March 2009. Later that year, a new search engine was created to index and present results from all websites hosted on Fandom.

Questions and answers site

In January 2009, the company introduced a question and answer website named "Wikianswers," which was separate from an existing site of similar name. By March 2010, Fandom reintroduced this service as "Answers from Wikia," allowing users to build topic-focused knowledge market wikis hosted under Fandom’s Wikianswers subdomain.

Relationship with Wikipedia

During the 2000s, Fandom, known then as Wikia, encountered criticism for capitalizing on its perceived connection to Wikipedia. Media outlets frequently described Fandom as the "commercial counterpart to the non-profit Wikipedia," a characterization disputed by both Wikimedia and Fandom personnel.

In 2006, the Wikimedia Foundation collaborated with Wikia by sharing expenses related to hosting and bandwidth, and also received donated office space from the company within the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006. By the conclusion of fiscal 2007, Wikia had an outstanding balance of $6,000 owed to the foundation. Furthermore, two individuals serving on the foundation's board of directors simultaneously held positions at Wikia. In January 2009, Wikia leased conference rooms to the Wikimedia Foundation to support the Wikipedia Usability Initiative. According to Wikimedia’s deputy director Erik Möller, the leasing price was established by averaging competitive bids to ensure a fair market value that neither advantaged nor disadvantaged Wikia.

Advertising controversies

Concerns have been voiced within Fandom communities regarding intrusive and resource-heavy advertisements, including those embedded directly within article text. Many users resort to ad-blockers due to significant performance degradation, particularly on mobile devices where autoplay videos frequently trigger page reloads. A 2025 Emarketer study highlighted cases of malvertising, where ads redirected visitors to potentially harmful websites.

Criticism has been directed at Fandom’s aggressive monetization strategy for user-generated content, with media outlets such as the British newspaper The Guardian arguing that contributors receive neither financial rewards nor ownership rights for their contributions. The Journal of Student Research labeled Fandom exploitative, asserting that its market dominance creates an informational monopoly that suppresses competition. Additional concerns include how commercialization has influenced content standards and diminished trust in online platforms.

In August 2024, Adalytics uncovered prominent brand advertisements appearing alongside offensive material including racial slurs, white supremacist content, and articles endorsing sexual assault across smaller Fandom wikis. Despite employing AI-driven ad moderation supported by DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, Fandom faced criticism for inadequate prevention of ads running adjacent to harmful content. This issue intensified worries about brand safety within Fandom’s advertising framework.

Editorial interference

Fandom has modified user-submitted content by introducing obstructive features such as popups displaying personalized ads, promoting unrelated articles, and embedding unrelated quizzes aimed at increasing user engagement without consulting contributors. The platform has also removed content arbitrarily without prior discussion with editors.

In 2017, autoplay videos were added by Fandom on wikis for franchises like RuneScape and Fallout without editor approval, drawing criticism for diminishing site quality.

By 2021, Fandom began deleting adult-themed material and entire wikis dedicated to adult content without notification, provoking backlash from users and editors alike.

In 2022, several sexuality and gender-focused wikis were consolidated by Fandom with pages removed without user input. This action was criticized for containing offensive references toward intersex identities and shifting editorial policies toward a more “corporate-friendly” approach. Dissenting voices were reportedly blocked on social media platforms and within Fandom. The editorial team behind the Zelda Wiki cited concerns regarding “corporate consolidation” and loss of editorial autonomy as reasons for migrating their content to an independent host while encouraging other communities to consider relocation and establish writers' unions.

In 2023, Fandom rolled out AI-generated “Quick Answers” across various wikis. These responses contained grammatical mistakes and factual errors, resulting in their removal following public criticism. The Hollow Knight Wiki team cited misinformation issues and apprehensions about AI replacing human contributors as motivations for moving their content elsewhere.

In May 2025, “brand safety” policies were introduced on Giant Bomb, triggering criticism from its staff during a podcast that was subsequently removed by Fandom. This dispute culminated in Giant Bomb becoming independently owned by its creators after a strategic reorganization of Fandom’s portfolio of brands.

Privacy issues

Fandom has encountered several legal challenges in California for breaching the Video Privacy Protection Act by distributing user information—such as IP addresses and viewing patterns—without obtaining permission. This data was shared with third-party entities, including Meta. The lawsuits emerged in 2022 following revelations that the company had sold sensitive user details to external organizations. In 2023, a federal court determined that Fandom could not dismiss consumer lawsuits concerning these data-sharing practices.

Copyright violations

In California courts, Fandom has been taken to task over copyright infringement involving the unauthorized use of images created by professional photographers. Prominent lawsuits include claims from photographer Linda Matlow regarding her image collection and a suit filed by film director Michael Grecco related to promotional photographs from The X-Files.

Sponsored content

During June 2023, McDonald's compensated Fandom an undisclosed amount to temporarily substitute the main page and comprehensive article of the McDonald's Wiki entry on Grimace with an advertisement promoting the Grimace Shake and celebrating the character's 52nd anniversary. Nathan Steinmetz, the article’s lead editor, condemned this action as detrimental to his research efforts and criticized it for establishing a "really bad precedent" that allows intellectual property owners to suppress community-generated content through press announcements.

Wiki migrations

Multiple wikis have transitioned away from Fandom, citing intrusive advertising, a lack of user-friendly interface, restricted customization options, and irrelevant corporate cross-promotion as key factors. Early departures include the Transformers Wiki in 2008, which left due to disagreements over advertising. More recently, communities such as the Zelda and Minecraft wikis referenced growing "corporate consolidation," alleged censorship, declining platform functionality, and incidents like the Grimace controversy as motivations for relocating.

Rich Stanton of PC Gamer observed that most of these departures occurred after Fandom's acquisition in 2018 and the integration of Gamepedia, pointing out the difficulties migrating wikis face when competing against Fandom’s superior search engine optimization (SEO). In 2023, Fandom CEO Perkins Miller acknowledged these departures as significant and stressed ongoing initiatives aimed at developing a more reliable, community-centered platform equipped with enhanced tools.

Notable migrations include the RuneScape wiki in 2018; the Zelda and Terraria wikis in 2022; the Minecraft, Fallout, and Hollow Knight wikis in 2023; followed by the South Park, Dead by Daylight, and League of Legends wikis in 2024. In 2025, additional wikis such as those for Warframe, Vampire Survivors, Undertale/Deltarune, Nichijou, and Balatro also relocated. That same year, editorial teams managing the Ys, Trails, Xanadu, and Gagharv wikis collectively moved to independent platforms to establish a more thorough archive of Nihon Falcom titles, citing intrusive advertisements on Fandom as a driving factor. Some of these migrations received backing from the original franchise creators themselves.

Forking

Transitioning from Fandom to a traditional paid hosting platform presents significant challenges, primarily because Fandom typically retains control over the original domain names. When a community decides to depart, Fandom frequently continues to run the abandoned or "forked" wiki under its initial name and content, aiming to generate advertising revenue as long as the site maintains editing activity and visitor traffic. This practice can negatively impact the new wiki's search visibility and may cause outdated or inaccurate information to appear more prominently than on the newly established site. Fandom allows only a brief notification directing users to a discussion about forking before removing that message and revoking administrator privileges on the original wiki for those involved with the forked version.

Fandom, Inc.

Fandom, Inc., with its headquarters located in the Hallidie Building at 130 Sutter Street in San Francisco, California, was initially incorporated in Florida in December 2004 before re-incorporating in Delaware as Wikia, Inc. in January 2006.

The company employs technical personnel within the United States and operates an engineering branch in Poznań, Poland.

Revenue generation for Fandom is mainly driven by advertising. The platform initially utilized Google AdSense, later shifting to Federated Media Publishing, and eventually developed its proprietary advertising management system. Presently, Fandom integrates its own advertising solutions alongside third-party services such as AdSense and Amazon Ads. Additional earnings come from strategic partnerships and sweepstake sponsorships hosted on affiliated wikis.

Fandom maintains multiple offices worldwide: international functions are coordinated from Germany; Asian sales and operations are based in Tokyo; while sales teams operate out of Chicago, Latin America, Los Angeles (focused on marketing programming and content), New York City, and London.

See also

• Comparison of wiki hosting services