Christopher Poole, the founder of internet imageboard 4chan, has sold the company to Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of Japanese site 2channel, itself a direct inspiration for 4chan’s creation in the first place.


The NY Times reports that Poole “declined to disclose the terms of the acquisition”, and also “does not expect to serve an active role in 4chan’s future development”.

Speaking of the decision, Poole—who has long struggled to turn the site’s popularity into something profitable—told the paper “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. He’s the great-grandfather of all of this.”


You can read the rest of the Times’ interview with Poole here. Note that Nishimura, while 2ch’s founder, left that company in 2009; he was most recently made EIC of Variety Japan. Here’s a fun profile Wired ran on him in 2008.