Oslo, Norway – June 24, 2011
The Board of Opera Software and Jon S. von Tetzchner today together announce that von Tetzchner is leaving Opera Software. Von Tetzchner co-founded Opera Software in 1995, and led the company up to 2010.
“It is of course a choice that brings up a lot of emotions,” says von Tetzchner. “When we first started out, we were a few guys in a really small office – now we are spread all over the world, have over 740 employees and over 200 million users. I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and look forward to following the company closely also in the future.”
“We have had a lot of fun during these years, and to say that Jon has created a great company is an understatement,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software. “He has taught me and everyone working here a lot. He believed in, and pushed out innovation after innovation that we see our competitors constantly struggling with copying, making Opera a first mover in the technological development of web browsers as we know them today. We are very proud of Jon, and of course of the company,” says Boilesen. “We are aiming at 500 million users long-term*, and we have a very positive flow right now.”
Von Tetzchner will be with Opera Software until 30th of June and has ideas about new projects, but is not ready to reveal any of his ideas as of right now.
*This used to read “2013”, but was changed to “long-term” to not wrongfully give the impression of that 2013 is a set goal to reach this number of users. (Edited: June 27th)