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Wix.com

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This article is about a website builder tool. For the software installation tool, see WiX. For other uses, see Wix.

Wix.com Ltd.
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: WIX
ISINIL0011301780
IndustryInternet
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006)
Founders
  • Avishai Abrahami
  • Nadav Abrahami
  • Giora Kaplan
Headquarters
Tel Aviv
,
Israel
Number of locations
22 (2022)
List
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Mark Tluszcz (chairman)
Avishai Abrahami (CEO)
ProductsOnline services for stores, bookings, hotels, events, restaurants, fitness, video, music, shoutout, answers, logo maker
ServicesWebsite builder, business management, web hosting service
RevenueIncrease US$1.562 billion (2023)
Negative increase US$−24.4 million (2023)
Increase US$33.14 million (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$1.804 billion (2023)
Total equityNegative increase US$−54.5 million (2023)
OwnersBaillie Gifford (14.2%)
Starboard Value (9%)
BlackRock (4.7%)
Principal Global (4.3%)
Jackson Square Partners (4.3%)
Number of employees
4,600 (2023)
Subsidiaries
Websitewix.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2]
Wix's secondary headquarters, Tel Aviv, Israel

Wix.com Ltd. (Hebrew: וויקס.קום, romanized: wix.com) or simply “Wix” is an Israeli software company, publicly listed in the US, that provides cloud-based web development services. It offers tools for creating HTML5 websites and mobile sites using online drag-and-drop editing.[3] Along with its headquarters and other offices in Israel, Wix also has offices in Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, the United States, Ukraine, and Singapore.[4]

Users can add applications for social media, e-commerce, online marketing, contact forms, e-mail marketing, and community forums to their websites.[5][6] The Wix website builder is built on a freemium business model, earning its revenues through premium upgrades.[7] According to the W3Techs technology survey website, Wix is used by 2.5% of websites as of September 2023.[8]

History

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Product development

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Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan.[9] With its main offices in Tel Aviv, Wix was backed by investors Insight Venture Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, and Benchmark Capital.[10] The company entered an open beta phase in 2007 using a platform based on Adobe Flash.[11]

By April 2010 Wix had 3.5 million users and raised US$10 million in Series C funding provided by Benchmark Capital and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners.[12] In March 2011, Wix had 8.5 million users and raised US$40 million in Series D funding, bringing its total funding to that date to US$61 million.[13]

In June 2011, Wix launched the Facebook store module, making its first step into the social commerce trend.[14] In March 2012, Wix launched a new HTML5 site builder, replacing the Adobe Flash technology.[15] In October 2012, Wix launched an app market for users to sell applications built with the company's automated web development technology. Wix's software development kit lets app developers create and offer web apps to Wix users.[16]

By August 2013, the Wix platform had more than 34 million registered users.[17]

In August 2014, Wix launched Wix Hotels, a booking system for hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals that use Wix websites.[18]

As of their most recent reporting in June 2024, Wix has over 260 million users worldwide.[19][better source needed]

IPO and acquisitions

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On 5 November 2013, Wix had an initial public offering on NASDAQ, raising about US$127 million for the company and some share holders.[20]

In April 2014, Wix announced the acquisition of Appixia, an Israeli startup for creating native mobile commerce (mCommerce) apps. In October 2014, Wix announced its acquisition of OpenRest, a developer of online ordering systems for restaurants.[21][22][23]

In April 2015, Wix acquired Moment.me, a mobile website builder for events and marketing tools for social lead generation.[24]

On 23 February 2017, Wix acquired the online art community DeviantArt for US$36 million.[25]

In January 2017, the company acquired Flok, a provider of customer loyalty programs tools.[26]

In February 2020, Wix acquired Inkfrog for eBay sellers, a web design company that provides customized business management software for eBay sellers.[27][28]

On 2 March 2021, Wix acquired SpeedETab,[29] a Miami-based restaurant online technology provider.

In May 2021, Wix acquired Rise.ai,[30] a gift card and customer re-engagement package for online brands. A month later, Wix acquired Modalyst,[31] a marketplace and drop-shipping platform.

Description

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Users must purchase premium packages to connect their sites to their own domains, remove Wix ads, access the form builder, add e-commerce capabilities, or buy extra data storage and bandwidth.[7]

Wix provides customizable website templates and a drag-and-drop HTML5 website builder that includes apps, graphics, image galleries, fonts, vectors, animations, and other options. Users also may opt to create their web sites from scratch. In October 2013, Wix introduced a mobile editor for mobile viewing customization.[32]

Wix App Market offers both free and subscription-based applications, with a revenue split of 80% for the developer and 20% for Wix.[33] Customers can integrate third-party applications into their own web sites, such as photograph feeds, blogging, music playlists, online community, e-mail marketing, and file management.[34]

Custom JavaScript code can be inserted into Wix webpages using the Velo API.[35]

Controversies

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Use of WordPress code

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In October 2016, there was a controversy over Wix's use of WordPress's GPL-licensed code.[36] In response, Avishai Abrahami, Wix's CEO, published a response describing which open-source code was used and how Wix says it collaborates with the open-source community.[37] However, it was subsequently noted that collaboration with the open-source community was not sufficient under the terms of the GPL license, which requires any code built on GPL-licensed code to be released under the same license.[38]

Censorship

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On 31 May 2021, 2021 Hong Kong Charter, a Wix-hosted website run by exiled Hong Kong activists, was shut down at the request of the Hong Kong Police. This was the first known case of Hong Kong's National Security Law being used to censor content on an overseas website. Wix later apologized for "mistakenly removing the website" and reinstated the website after it had been down for four days.[39][40]

In October 2023, Wix fired an employee in Dublin, Ireland after making social media posts critical of Israel. The company was previously reported to have encouraged employees to "create videos and creative campaigns" to "support Israel's narrative".[41] This incident led to criticism of Wix from members of the Irish Parliament (Dáil Éireann) and the head of the Irish government, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who said it was "not okay to dismiss somebody because of their political views".[41][42] Deputy head of government, Tánaiste Micheál Martin also condemned their dismissal, stating "we tolerate debate with freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and people have different opinions on these issues."[43] The dismissed employee, Courtney Carey, successfully sued the company for unfair dismissal. Wix did not contest the charge, admitting liability.[44]

References

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  1. ^ "Wix.com Ltd 2023 Annual Report (Form 20-F)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 22 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Top Institutional Holders". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  3. ^ Zukerman, Erez (9 April 2012). "Create a Website Easily With Wix". PC World. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Wix Offices Around the World". Wix.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Now At 25M Users, Wix Brings Third-Party Apps To Its Website Builder With New Marketplace". TechCrunch. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  6. ^ "Wix's new ADI tool uses artificial intelligence to build a Website for you". The Next Web. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b "New options for building a free website". MSN. 23 July 2013. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Usage statistics and market share of Wix". w3techs.com. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  9. ^ Tress, Luke (23 February 2017). "Wix acquires online creative community DeviantArt". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  10. ^ Vidra, Eze (28 March 2011). "Israeli startup Wix Raises $40 Million, Wants to Become a Large Company in Israel". VC Cafe. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  11. ^ McCarthy, Caroline (13 October 2008). "Site creator Wix announces funding, subscriptions". CNET. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Investment of $10 Million Raised by Wix for Promotion of Flash Website Software". PRWeb. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  13. ^ Israeli startup Wix Raises $40 Million, Wants to Become a Large Company in Israel, Eze Vidra, VCCafe; 28 March 2011
  14. ^ Nicole Perlroth, Wix Unveils New Facebook eStore For Small Businesses, Forbes, 22 June 2011
  15. ^ Wix launches a brand new HTML5 site builder as Flash heads the way of the dodo, Harrison Weber, The Next Web, 26 March 2012
  16. ^ Barrett, Jeff (16 October 2012). "Wix introduces game-changing App Market for web developers". The Washington Times. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  17. ^ Shemer, Nadav (10 June 2013). "6 Israeli Startups To Watch As Google Reportedly Buys Waze For $1.3 Billion". Fast Company. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  18. ^ Boutique hotels just got easier to book, Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN Money, 6 August 2014
  19. ^ https://www.wix.com/press-room/home/post/wix-releases-2023-esg-report
  20. ^ Israeli start-up Wix raises $127m in Nasdaq IPO, Financial Times, 6 November 2013
  21. ^ Leilanie, Rose (30 October 2014). "Wix expands with acquisition of restaurant solutions provider OpenRest". geektime.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  22. ^ "Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  23. ^ "Israel's Wix.com buys mobile commerce firm Appixia". reuters.com. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  24. ^ "Wix Buys Moment.Me For $10M To Add Social Marketing To Its Website Building Platform – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  25. ^ "Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M". TechCrunch. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  26. ^ "Wix buys Flok to add loyalty and mobile CRM to its business tools". techcrunch.com. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  27. ^ "Wix Acquires InkFrog as It Prioritizes Ecommerce". ecommercebytes. 11 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  28. ^ "Wix Launches Extended eCommerce Solution". MarTechSeries. 1 July 2020.
  29. ^ Wix.com. "Wix Acquires SpeedETab to Strengthen Wix Restaurant Capabilities". PR Newswire (Press release). Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  30. ^ Wix.com. "Wix Acquires Rise.ai to Extend Native Wix eCommerce Platform Offering". PR Newswire (Press release). Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  31. ^ Wix.com. "Wix Acquires Modalyst to Provide Its Own eCommerce Supplier Marketplace and Native Dropshipping Solution". PR Newswire (Press release). Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  32. ^ "New Mobile Solution from Wix". Wix Blog.
  33. ^ "Wix Developer Center | Build a Web App". Wix Developer site. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  34. ^ Clancy, Heatjer (16 May 2013). "Small-business web host becomes Google reseller". ZDNet. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  35. ^ "API Overview". Wix.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  36. ^ The Wix Mobile App, a WordPress Joint, Ma.tt, 28 October 2016
  37. ^ Dear Matt Mullenweg: an open letter from Wix.com's CEO | Official Wix Blog, 29 October 2016
  38. ^ Gallagher, Sean (November 2016). "Wix gets caught 'stealing' GPL code from WordPress". Ars Technica.
  39. ^ EDT, Zoe Strozewski On 6/3/21 at 3:50 pm (3 June 2021). "Wix apologizes for removing website in support of Hong Kong democracy". Newsweek. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  40. ^ "Hong Kong security law used to shut down website run by overseas activists". South China Morning Post. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  41. ^ a b Power, Jack. "Dublin woman fired by Israeli company over anti-Israel social media posts". The Irish Times.
  42. ^ Carolan, Mick. "'Not okay to dismiss somebody because of their political views' - Leo Varadkar on Dublin woman sacked by Wix over anti-Israel posts". Irish Independent.
  43. ^ "Woman fired from Israeli tech firm's Dublin office after posting Palestine comments". Irish Examiner.
  44. ^ "Dismissed Wix employee feels 'blacklisted' after sharing Gaza views online, WRC told". RTÉ News. 19 June 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
[edit]
  • Media related to Wix.com at Wikimedia Commons
  • Official website
  • Business data for Wix.com Ltd.:
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