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A day or two ago, I wrote a Wikipedia article about the Stack Exchange Network only to notice the new legal information pages a few hours later. Now, I want to update the article so it is as accurate as possible.

I'm not sure I completely understand who owns the Stack Exchange Network.

I see that all pages say:

site design / logo © 2010 stack overflow internet services, inc;

and that the legal page says:

Stack Overflow Internet Services Inc. is the official name of the company, but you are welcome to say Stack Overflow Inc. to disambiguate between the site for programmers and the company.

and

The Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange name and logos are trademarks of Stack Overflow Inc. The names and logos for sites and products operating on the Stack Exchange network are also trademarks of Stack Overflow Inc.

However, I thought that Fog Creek Software has some role in the ownership of the Network. Is that true?

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  • Followup question: what about former Fog Creek employees - David, Emmett, Michael? Do they still use Fog Creek office space?
    – Kyle Cronin Mod
    Commented Jun 10, 2010 at 23:40
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    @Kyle Emmett and I became full-time employees of SO as of a few months ago. Michael is splitting time between Fog Creek and SO. We rent office space from Fog Creek right now, but we are getting our own office very soon.
    – David Fullerton
    Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 0:25
  • @David Cool. What about Aaron? is he still with Stack Exchange?
    – Kyle Cronin Mod
    Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 0:27
  • @Kyle Aaron decided to stay at Fog Creek
    – David Fullerton
    Commented Jun 11, 2010 at 1:06
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    The NY SO office is upstairs from Fog Creek (Fog Creek has the whole 25th floor and SO has most of the 26th floor). Both companies eat lunch together, everyday. SO employees come downstairs and eat with us.
    – Babak
    Commented Jan 5, 2011 at 20:34
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    " I thought that Fog Creek Software has some role in the ownership of the Network." It doesn't become clear in the question why you thought so.
    – NoDataDumpNoContribution
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 11:37
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    I’m voting to close this question because Glitch ceased to exist after its final business was acquired by Fastly.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Aug 23, 2023 at 21:57

1 Answer 1

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The Stack Overflow Trilogy (MSOFU) was initially developed by stackoverflow.com LLC (co-owned by both co-founders Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky).

Stack Exchange v1.0 was licensed by the LLC to Fog Creek Software, Inc. (an established software firm owned by Joel). Upon further evaluation, it was decided the idea was no longer viable and was terminated. At that point, Fog Creek exited the picture.

Stack Exchange 2.0, which has incorporated the Stack Overflow Trilogy, is developed by Stack Exchange, Inc. (known as Stack Overflow Internet Services, Inc. until 2011; taking on the brand name Stack Overflow in 2015), which has received venture funding. Joel Spolsky, however, remained part of the Board of Directors and served as the Chairman of Stack Exchange, Inc. until 2021.

So to summarize, Fog Creek (since renamed Glitch, Inc.) does not have any more ownership of Stack Exchange. While people on its leadership team continued to serve on Stack Exchange, Inc.'s board for a period of time afterwards, there is no longer any link between the two companies.

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