Anonymous online message board 4chan, described as one of the weirdest and yet most influential websites on the Internet, has been sold.
4chan was founded back in 2003 by Christopher Poole, originally as an online forum for users to talk about Japanese culture and anime. It has since evolved into a collective snapshot of the Internet, with the /a/ forum for anime, /v/ forum for video games, and so on.
However, it is the /b/ forum of 4chan, which is the "anything goes" image board of the website, that is the most notorious. Included in the forum are images ranging from "lolcats" to pornography and anything and everything in between, constantly pushing the envelope for free speech and has ben a significant influence on the culture of the Internet, for better or worse.
Poole, who stepped down as 4chan's administrator in January, is now selling the website to Hiroyuki Nishimura, himself a pioneer of web culture in Japan and the founder of 2channel, which is an anonymous online message board similar to 4chan. Nishimura, however, sold 2channel back in 2009.
Poole describes the sale as coming full circle for 4chan, as it was actually 2channel, which had a focus on Japanese culture and anime, that inspired him to develop 4chan. Since 4chan's creation, its user base exploded to over 20 million visitors per month, with the achievement gained without having any full-time employees or receiving any venture capital.
"Hiroyuki is literally the only person in the world with as much if not more experience than myself in running an anonymous, large destination community that serves tens of millions of people," said Poole.
Poole, who refused to reveal the financial details of the acquisition, said that he does not expect to be involved in the future development of 4chan.
4chan's sale comes as millions upon millions of dollars are being poured in as investments into websites such as Reddit and Imgur, which like 4chan are independent online forums. These websites have collectively served as the launching points for modern Internet culture, though the question that remains is whether these websites can transform themselves into highly profitable businesses due to the massive amounts of traffic that go through them.
It remains to be seen if this is the direction that 4chan would take after the sale, as Nishimura did not reveal his intentions. However, the new 4chan owner said that he is looking forward to expanding the website and supporting its community.
