Opera (company) facts for kids
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| Traded as | NASDAQ: OPRA |
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| Founded | 1995 in Oslo, Norway |
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| Headquarters | Oslo, Norway |
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Key people
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| Products | Opera Browser, Opera GX |
| Revenue |  US$397 million (2023) |
| US$153 million (2023) |
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| Total assets | US$1.01 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | US$920 million (2023) |
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Number of employees
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582 (2023) |
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Opera Limited is a big technology company based in Oslo, Norway. It also has offices in Europe, China, and Africa. Opera creates many different products and services. These include various web browsers for computers and mobile phones. They also offer gaming tools, news apps, and online shopping and payment services. More than 311 million people use Opera's products every month!
In 2016, a group of investors from China bought Opera. On July 27, 2018, Opera Limited became a public company. This means its shares can be bought and sold on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Opera is now part of a company called Kunlun Tech Co., Ltd., and is led by Zhou Yahui.
Contents
History of Opera
How Opera Started
Opera Software was founded in Norway in 1995. It was started by two people, Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy. They first began working on the Opera web browser while they were at a Norwegian phone company called Telenor.
Opera Software's first product was the Opera web browser version 2.10. It was made for Windows computers and came out in 1996. By 1998, Opera started making browsers for mobile phones. In 2000, Opera 4.0 was released. It had a new core that made it easier to create Opera versions for many different computer systems.
At first, you had to buy the Opera browser after a trial period. But with version 5.0 in 2000, this changed. Opera became free to use, but it showed advertisements to users who didn't buy a license. Later, users could choose between general ads or text ads from Google. These ads were based on the webpage they were viewing.
Becoming a Public Company
In February 2004, Opera Software announced it would offer its shares to the public. This happened on the Oslo Stock Exchange in March. On March 11, Opera's shares began trading under the symbol OPERA.
In 2004, Opera Software settled a legal case with a large company. Opera received US$12.75 million. Many people thought this company was Microsoft. Microsoft had previously stopped Opera users from seeing MSN.com correctly.
On January 12, 2005, Opera Software announced it would offer free licenses to universities. Before this, a license for unlimited users cost US$1,000. Many famous schools, like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, chose the free license.
With version 8.5, released in 2005, all advertisements were removed from the browser. Opera's main money now came from Google, which was the default search engine in the browser. In August 2005, the company launched Opera Mini. This was a new web browser for mobile phones. It was first offered to phone companies to pre-load on their phones.
In 2007, Opera complained to the European Commission about Microsoft. Opera said that including Internet Explorer with Microsoft Windows was unfair to other browser companies and users. This complaint led to the creation of BrowserChoice.eu, which let users choose their browser.
In 2013, Opera Software decided to stop using its own engine for the desktop browser. From version 15, the Opera browser for computers started using the Blink engine. This engine was developed with Google.
In March 2015, Opera won an award at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They won for "Best Mobile Product" in growing markets for their Opera Web Pass. In April, Opera decided to focus its desktop browser development in Poland. Also in April, Opera TV AS was created to separate the TV-related business from other parts of Opera. In September, the company changed its brand. It got a new three-dimensional "O" logo and changed its name from "Opera Software" to simply "Opera".
New Ownership and Growth
In 2016, a group of Chinese investors bought Opera's web browser, consumer apps, and the Opera brand. The remaining parts of the original company were renamed Otello Corporation. This change of ownership began in February 2016. The Chinese investors offered US$1.2 billion to buy Opera Software ASA. However, this deal didn't get government approval at first.
On July 18, 2016, Opera Software ASA announced it had sold its browser, privacy apps, and the Opera brand. It was sold to a group of Chinese investors for US$600 million. This sale was approved on October 31, 2016. After selling its browser and brand, Opera Software ASA changed its name to Otello Corporation ASA.
In January 2017, the company launched Opera Neon. This was a new experimental browser that explored different browser designs. It was built on the Blink engine and was available for Windows and macOS. In January 2018, Opera launched Opera News. This was a news app powered by artificial intelligence, made for users in Africa. It quickly gained over a million downloads. In April, the company released a new mobile browser called Opera Touch. It had a new design that made it easy to use with one hand. In July 2018, Opera became a public company on the NASDAQ stock exchange, raising over $115 million.
Recent Developments
In November 2019, Opera started a new project called Opera News Hub. This platform helps bloggers create and share content. In January 2020, Opera bought PocoSys. This was a company from Estonia that made banking software.
Opera bought YoYo Games in January 2021 for US$10 million. With this purchase, Opera also announced its new Opera Gaming division. This division aims to help game development within the Opera GX browser using YoYo Games and its GameMaker software.
In February 2021, Opera launched Dify. This is a payment app that works inside the browser. It offers cashback services and a digital wallet. Customers using Dify can get money back when they buy things from partner websites like Nike and Asos. This payment service was first offered in Spain.
Opera Products
Active Products
- Opera desktop browser: This is Opera's main web browser for computers. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Opera Mobile: A web browser designed for mobile phones.
- Opera GX: This is Opera's special browser for gamers. It was released in June 2019. Users can control how much computer memory (RAM), processing power (CPU), and internet speed it uses. It has over 20 million users every month.
- Opera Mini: First released in 2005, this browser is popular for saving mobile data. It has a special data-saving mode and a built-in file sharing service.
- Opera News: Launched in 2018, this is a news app that uses AI to recommend articles. In 2020, Opera announced that Opera News had over 200 million users each month.
- OPay: This is a financial technology (fintech) startup that Opera helped create. It's a mobile payment platform mainly used in Nigeria, launched in 2018.
- Opera Ads: This is an advertising platform that works across all of Opera's products. It was released in May 2019.
- Okash, Opesa, and Credit Hela: These are apps that offer short-term loans in Kenya.
Discontinued Products
In February 2018, the Opera Max app was sold to Samsung. This app was a VPN-based service that helped save mobile data. It was renamed Samsung Max. Opera has since developed its own VPN that is built into its desktop and Android browsers.
On March 22, 2021, the iOS version of Opera Touch was rebranded to simply Opera. It also received a new and updated design.
In August 2017, Opera Coast was stopped and removed from the Apple App Store. The reason is not known, but some people believe the company decided to focus on other products.
