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Opera announces new CEO

January 5, 2010 · by Jon S. von Tetzchner

The new year often brings with it a series of changes, some large and some small. I would like to share one change at Opera with you all. After 15 wonderful years leading Opera as its Chief Executive Officer, I have decided the time is right to move into a free, more independent role within the company I co-founded along with my friend, Geir Ivarsøy.

This means, of course, that Opera will have a new CEO. Moving into that role is Lars Boilesen, Opera's current Chief Commercial Officer.

I have known Lars for many years. He originally worked at Opera from 2000-2005. He helped shepherd our transition from a company that made a desktop Web browser into a Web browsing leader on all platforms. It was a sad day when he left to join Alcatel-Lucent. In 2009, I lured him back to us. Now I have given him what I consider to be the greatest job on Earth.

I step aside knowing Opera is in great hands. Lars has a deep belief in the power of our mission to bring the best Web browsing experience to people everywhere. He inherits a focused company ready for big things. We are in a strong financial position. We have great products (have you tried the pre-alpha of Opera 10.50 yet?). We have 800 talented employees around the world. And of course we have you, the people for whom we work so hard to make great products.

Over the years I have been fortunate to meet many of you. I have traveled far and wide to tell our story and have listened to yours as well. You have told me how much Opera has meant to you and how it has helped your life. Hearing your stories and learning from you has enriched my life beyond all measure. You have motivated and inspired me. For that, I offer my most humble thanks. The Opera community has been, and shall always be, an important part of my life.

I wish you all a joyous New Year and success in whatever endeavors, great and small, the future holds for you.

Kær kvedja,

Jon

Readers' comments 50

Left under the original article, as archived; 1 page of comments could not be recovered.

  • Alexis5. January 2010, 08:15

    :wink:

  • Aleksander Aas5. January 2010, 08:20

    <3

  • Serola5. January 2010, 08:23

    Thank you Jon for good work as a CEO of Opera and success for Lars in his new job :smile:

  • plovec5. January 2010, 08:27

    Thank's Jon. Opera has been my main browser since version 3. I give my best for the next 15 years :smile:

  • DemoJameson5. January 2010, 08:28

    :yikes:

  • dirk5. January 2010, 08:30

    We have great products (have you tried the pre-alpha of Opera 10.50 yet?). We have 800 talented employees around the world. And of course we have you, the people for whom we work so hard to make great products.


    :up: that's the spirit !!! :up:

  • Tamil5. January 2010, 08:31

    Originally posted by serola:

    Thank you Jon for good work as a CEO of Opera and success for Lars in his new job

    :yes:

  • serious5. January 2010, 08:51

    aw :frown:
    but hey, we have a proverb here: quit when it's funniest :smile:

  • Pallab De5. January 2010, 08:53

    Jon, thanks for all the good work. Hopefuly, Opera will continue rocking.

  • ouzoWTF5. January 2010, 08:59

    Originally posted by serola:

    Thank you Jon for good work as a CEO of Opera and success for Lars in his new job :smile:


  • Marcin5. January 2010, 09:03

    Thank you Jon. Wish you all the best! Opera is my primary browser for very looooong time...

  • Ice Ardor5. January 2010, 09:06

    Jon, we wish you the happiest. Thanks for doing so much for the company over the past 15 years.

    Good luck Lars. Jon left some pretty big shoes for you to fill. I have full confidence that the Opera that I know will only get better.

  • kjlamuro5. January 2010, 09:20

    保重

  • zikzakatak5. January 2010, 09:33

    mayor changes and you moving somewhere else...sounds good but also interesting to see where your life in terms of your next new steps are going.


    perhaps a new project under the sun??...I'm sure it is.


    good luck.

  • Andy5. January 2010, 09:54

    Sorry to be so negative, but when a co-founder and tech visionary as CEO gets replaced by a commercial officer, I fear Opera may start focusing on the wrong goals: stockholder profit instead of sustainable long-term technology leadership and innovation.

    But let's hope for the best.

    Thank's Jon and good luck Lars!

  • walter5. January 2010, 09:54

    good luck :coffee:

  • Furie5. January 2010, 10:20

    Lured him back to the job last year and now he's taking over? Wow, how do I get a fast track career like that?

  • Stanley5. January 2010, 10:40

    thanks Jon!

  • Erik5. January 2010, 10:40

    Originally posted by Hadraniel:

    Sorry to be so negative, but when a co-founder and tech visionary as CEO gets replaced by a commercial officer, I fear Opera may start focusing on the wrong goals: stockholder profit instead of sustainable long-term technology leadership and innovation.

    But let's hope for the best.



    couldnt have said it better ...man i think many hope for the best to


    :cry: ... I hope Opera can manage to be the BEST FREE browser on earth, if i knew how to code id do it just for food and Opera

    ...hope he comes back with a nice idea :knight:

  • mistressEVIL5. January 2010, 10:49

    Good luck with wherever life takes you next.

  • Christopher5. January 2010, 11:04

    Thank you Jon for all the work you have done :smile: (and will do)

  • ritmocafe5. January 2010, 11:16

    Woohooo. Geek out of the way and marketing man in the positon!

    I say that a wonderful move! Hope you don't focus marketing and forget the technology that has earnt you your loyal fans :smile:

  • Purdi5. January 2010, 11:16

    Originally posted by Hadraniel:

    Sorry to be so negative, but when a co-founder and tech visionary as CEO gets replaced by a commercial officer, I fear Opera may start focusing on the wrong goals: stockholder profit instead of sustainable long-term technology leadership and innovation.


    Yeah, GOD FORBID a company focuses on making money, and on long term viability! Damn CAPITALIST PIGS with their EVIL MONEY MAKING!

    :troll:

  • ritmocafe5. January 2010, 11:17

    Woohooo. Geek out of the way and marketing man in the positon!

    I say that a wonderful move! Hope you don't focus marketing and forget the technology that has earnt you your loyal fans :smile:

  • Dan Alexandru5. January 2010, 11:18

    wine

    Does it have anything to do with your promise to have the browser running on 10 year old computers ? I suspect your 90s computer can't handle version 10.50 :smile:

  • Marcelo Javier5. January 2010, 11:27

    good luck!

  • johnnysaucepn5. January 2010, 11:34

    For the doubters: at least it's someone with a strong existing connection to the company - you can bet that Jon wouldn't hand over the reins if he didn't believe in whatever new vision Lars may have.

    Thanks for everything you've done so far, Jon - and here's to your turn at the top, Lars!

  • Aux5. January 2010, 11:58

    I've got internet connection at home in year 2000. Opera 5 was the second piece of software I've downloaded (first one was mIRC :smile:) I'm using Opera on a daily basis almost ten years now.

    So I'm very thankful to everyone at Opera Software! Enjoy your "vacation"! But I hope you will stay with us no matter what!

  • Andy5. January 2010, 12:20

    Originally posted by Purdi:

    Yeah, GOD FORBID a company focuses on making money, and on long term viability! Damn CAPITALIST PIGS with their EVIL MONEY MAKING!


    Please try to think before you post, and perform a reality-check(tm).

    MAKING MONEY and "long term viability" tend to be more and more oppositional goals, not limited to financial industry - and spreading...

    I am well aware of running a company does rely on both technology (creating a product) and marketing (selling the product, generating income), but focusing on marketing instead of technology for sure does not achieve long term viability.

  • Luxor5. January 2010, 12:22

    Originally posted by plovec:

    Thank's Jon. Opera has been my main browser since version 3. I give my best for the next 15 years


    And so say all of us. :up:

  • Diego Schild5. January 2010, 12:25

    Originally posted by serola:

    Thank you Jon for good work as a CEO of Opera and success for Lars in his new job


    Yeah!

  • Abhinav5. January 2010, 12:25

    :cheers:

  • Purdi5. January 2010, 12:44

    Originally posted by Hadraniel:

    MAKING MONEY and "long term viability" tend to be more and more oppositional goals, not limited to financial industry - and spreading...


    Nonsense. Making money IS what makes a company viable in the long run. Opera NEEDS to make money.

    I am well aware of running a company does rely on both technology (creating a product) and marketing (selling the product, generating income), but focusing on marketing instead of technology for sure does not achieve long term viability.


    You are talking a bunch of ignorant nonsense. Marketing is what works. Marketing is CRUCIAL. A crappy product can win on marketing alone. Just look at the way Chrome is growing purely because Google is using its online ad monopoly to spam everyone all the time.

  • Andy5. January 2010, 13:04

    Originally posted by Purdi:

    You are talking a bunch of ignorant nonsense. [..]
    A crappy product can win on marketing alone.


    You prefer a prospering Opera company with a crappy product over a company with an excellent product and economical success not being first priority (which does NOT mean, working for free and the love of people)?

    I use Opera, I am not an investor. I don't care about their market share. The product is my first and only priority. If Opera's product will - not necessarily but possibly - detoriate due to shifting on other company tasks, there will be other browsers to step in. And it will be a sad day, scince I use Opera scince 10 years now as primary browser.

    Anyway, either you are a rude troll accusing me being a troll, or you are just a rude dipshit lacking open-mindness and respect for other point of views. Twit-filter engaged.

  • Serola5. January 2010, 13:21

    How nice of you to turn these comments into a quarrel :rolleyes: Probably we users are "the big shoes to fit" for any new CEO.

  • SweetLinh5. January 2010, 13:26

    Thank you for all effort you did last time and looking forward to the next successes for all of you :smile: :up:

  • Abhinav5. January 2010, 13:29

    Originally posted by Purdi:

    Google is using its online ad monopoly to spam everyone all the time.


    very true

  • Purdi5. January 2010, 13:40

    Originally posted by Hadraniel:

    You prefer a prospering Opera company with a crappy product over a company with an excellent product and economical success not being first priority (which does NOT mean, working for free and the love of people)?


    Your blatant racism-like bigotry against people who are not engineers is quite disturbing. You are evidently oblivious to the fact that a company needs to make money to survive. You are also bigoted enough to assume that the new guy will mess things up just because he has a different background than you. Racism indeed.

    If Opera's product will - not necessarily but possibly - detoriate due to shifting on other company tasks, there will be other browsers to step in.


    And if Opera doesn't make money, it will die!

  • WOFall5. January 2010, 13:48

    Thank you Jon for your years of service to us <3 Don't get too carried away doing all the fun stuff now P:

  • Роман5. January 2010, 13:51

    спасибо что незабываете про нас!

  • serious5. January 2010, 13:53

    Andy, Purdi, STFU!!! Go quarrel somewhere else (D&D-Board).

  • Sushubh5. January 2010, 13:53

    this was a surprising update. i am loving 10.5 and cannot wait to see stable editions of it.

  • Dane5. January 2010, 14:47

    Originally posted by Hadraniel:

    Sorry to be so negative, but when a co-founder and tech visionary as CEO gets replaced by a commercial officer, I fear Opera may start focusing on the wrong goals: stockholder profit instead of sustainable long-term technology leadership and innovation.



    That's like saying they'll make more money by making a worse product...

    As far as consumer versions of Opera are concerned (Desktop, mini, mobile), innovation is the one thing that will sell the products because of the stiff competition in this arena.

    I think Haavard said it well:

    Originally posted by Haavard:

    It's fairly normal for the founder to step down after a while and let someone else take over the CEO seat. Jon's new title of "Co-founder" seems to allow him to do all the exciting stuff he did as CEO, but avoid all the boring stuff like paperwork. He will still be working full-time for Opera in a leading and strategic role.



    In other words, he's letting the company be run by an experienced CEO and still retaining his seat as a driving force behind opera's innovation.

    EDIT: I never meant to say Jon was inexperienced :smile:. Just that his company will be in good hands while he focuses more on product development.

    Google's founders also stepped down from the CEO role quite a while ago.

  • zoquete5. January 2010, 14:56

    '< jon, come back please! :cry:

  • zoquete5. January 2010, 15:09

    I read now all previous posts ... If I get it, they all are co-founders and co-workers. Changes are mostly made because of differences. Both of them have to be very different so that the change would make sense. ....

  • Eivin d5. January 2010, 15:22

    Thanks Jon, for your good work... I still have my Opera shares. :happy:
    Welcome Lars..looking forward to see your work :up:

  • zoquete5. January 2010, 15:23

    I really would like to read something about the reasons. I am sure there are some.

  • Charles Schloss5. January 2010, 15:29

    Originally posted by Tamil:

    Originally posted by serola:


    Thank you Jon for good work as a CEO of Opera and success for Lars in his new job


    :yes:

    :yes:

  • Aleksander Aas5. January 2010, 15:40

    Originally posted by Hadraniel:

    Sorry to be so negative, but when a co-founder and tech visionary as CEO gets replaced by a commercial officer, I fear Opera may start focusing on the wrong goals: stockholder profit instead of sustainable long-term technology leadership and innovation.


    Jon has not been "Replaced" Jon will remain in Opera in a more free role with his new title being Co-Founder!

    Originally posted by ritmocafe:

    I say that a wonderful move! Hope you don't focus marketing and forget the technology that has earnt you your loyal fans


    Jon or Opera will in no way forget the fans!

    Originally posted by johnnysaucepn:

    you can bet that Jon wouldn't hand over the reins if he didn't believe in whatever new vision Lars may have.


    In fact they have worked together in Opera for a long time and know each other well!

    Originally posted by WOFall:

    Don't get too carried away doing all the fun stuff now


    +1

    Originally posted by d4n3:

    In other words, he's letting the company be run by an experienced CEO and still retaining his seat as a driving force behind opera's innovation.


    Jon is a experienced CEO, and Opera will remain the innovative company we all know and love!

    Originally posted by d4n3:

    Google's founders also stepped down from the CEO role quite a while ago.


    That's right! This is in fact more or less the exact same move :smile:

    Please people: Be nice, this is a good thing and not the end of the world!

  • netwolf5. January 2010, 15:47

    Thank you, and have a good time doing whatever it is you're planning to do now :smile:

About this article

Published inChoose Opera
DateJanuary 5, 2010
AuthorJon S. von Tetzchner
Tagsopera, article, beta, browser, campus crew, choose, choose opera, chooseopera, community, contest, download, event
OriginalInternet Archive

The Red O » Developers » Choose Opera » Opera announces new CEO

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