Breadpig Explained

breadpig
Commercial:Yes
Registration:None
Owner:Breadpig, Inc.
Author:Alexis Ohanian
Launch Date:2007
Current Status:Active

Breadpig, stylized as breadpig, is a company that produces a variety of items that appeal to geeks, most notably publishing the book xkcd: volume 0.[1]

Details

Breadpig was founded by Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of the social news site Reddit. Ohanian and Steve Huffman, one of Reddit's other co-founders, were searching for expired domains for their yet unnamed website that had the word "read" in them. A search returned "breadpig.com" and the pair bought it purely out of comic value. Huffman imagined the "breadpig" as a "pig with bread wings", and Ohanian doodled the first version.[2]

breadpig teamed up with Randall Munroe, the author of xkcd, to publish xkcd: volume 0, which contains selected xkcd comics.[3] [4]

breadpig calls itself an "uncorporation," which means "in practice" it gives a lot of its profits away to charity. "Rather than following the typical corporate directive of maximizing shareholder wealth, breadpig aims to do interesting (good) things with its profits."[5]

In 2008, breadpig raised over $30,000 from creating and selling LOLmagnetz – magnetic poetry for lolspeak.[6] In February 2009, breadpig donated $15,000 to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals[7] and in October 2009, raised $32,000 for Room to Read to construct a primary school in Laos.[8] breadpig went on to raise $52,700, via the sale of xkcd: volume 0. This money was used for the development of a school room, a reading room, and a local language publishing room, also via Room to Read.[9] As of December 2010, breadpig has raised over $150,000 for charity (including both funds raised, and profits donated).[10] [11]

Notes and References

  1. News: When Pixels Find New Life on Real Paper. April 20, 2009 . Noam Cohen . The New York Times.
  2. News: breadpig: the legend. 2010-03-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20100416063520/http://breadpig.com/legend/. 2010-04-16. dead.
  3. News: There's an xkcd book!. . September 10, 2009 . Randall Munroe.
  4. News: When Pixels Find New Life on Real Paper . . April 19, 2009 . Noam Cohen . The New York Times.
  5. News: breadpig - WTF .
  6. News: How breadpig made $30,000 (for charity) in 2008 selling magnets with LOLspeak in our spare time. . Feb 3, 2009 . Alexis Ohanian . January 7, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101203201125/http://breadpig.com/2009/07/22/how-breadpig-made-30000-for-charity-in-2008-selling-magnets-with-lolspeak-in-our-spare-time/ . December 3, 2010 . dead .
  7. News: Breadpig Hands SF/SPCA $15,000 Check From LOLmagnetz, Plays With Puppy. . Feb 3, 2009 . Alexis Ohanian . January 7, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101121044211/http://breadpig.com/2009/02/03/breadpig-hands-sfspca-15000-check-from-lolmagnetz-plays-with-puppy/ . November 21, 2010 . dead .
  8. News: We did it! You raised enough money to build our xkcd school in Laos . Oct 2, 2009 . Alexis Ohanian . December 26, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101223081520/http://breadpig.com/2009/10/02/we-did-it-you-raised-enough-money-to-build-our-xkcd-school-in-laos/ . December 23, 2010 . dead .
  9. News: How Should We Donate $53,000 of xkcd Book Profits? . May 10, 2010 . Alexis Ohanian . December 26, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110119071119/http://breadpig.com/2010/05/10/how-should-we-donate-53000-of-xkcd-book-profits/ . January 19, 2011 . dead .
  10. News: Breadpig Inc, Donations (link to Google Spreadsheet). . Dec 26, 2010 . Alexis Ohanian.
  11. News: Reddit Cofounder Alexis Ohanian To Join Y Combinator. . Dec 26, 2010 . Michael Arrington.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Breadpig".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.