Proton, the company behind the popular services such as Proton Mail, Proton Drive, Proton VPN, and Proton Pass, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a restructuring to form a new entity in hopes of profitability. Enter the Proton Foundation, established as the parent organization.
The new structure of Proton resembles that of Mozilla, with a non-profit arm in Proton Foundation serving as the top-tier entity holding the majority shares of Proton AG, which provides various commercial services. This unique setup aims to sustain Proton within its ecosystem by selling services directly to users, unlike Signal Foundation funded by philanthropic donors, Mozilla Foundation backed by commercial contracts, and Wikimedia Foundation supported by user donations.
The Proton founders are committing their own shares to the Proton Foundation to transform the nonprofit into a major shareholder of Proton AG, granting them a voice in the company’s direction. The foundation’s board comprises both founders Andy Yen and Dingchao Lu, along with three external members, including Sir Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.
From a user perspective, the restructuring of Proton does not impact current services, but founders believe it will enhance trustworthiness and transparency in the future.
Source: Proton
TLDR: Proton commemorates its 10th anniversary with a restructuring, establishing the Proton Foundation as the parent organization to ensure sustainability and trustworthiness in its services.
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