Millions of people, including Flattr users, have AdBlock installed but very few know the man who built it. Let’s find out more about him.
Ad-block was created in 2009 by one guy in Georgia named Michael Gundlach. Since then, other people have liked AdBlock so much that they’ve contributed code or time to help the project.
Well, Michael didn’t exactly do it alone, Michael had help from around 5 million users who have downloaded his popular AdBlock for Chrome and Safari so far.
Also, He was an engineer at Google, working on Google Adsense and google ads.
Here is an interesting thing about him,
On his LinkedIn, his job description is “ Just a Guy, I am not currently available for any work. Please do not contact me regarding job opportunities.“
Why did Michael Gundlach create AdBlock
Michael Gundlach had used the excellent Firefox ad blocker, Adblock Plus, for years. He had halfway switched to Chrome from Firefox in 2009 because Chrome is so much faster, but couldn’t use it for long because of all the ads.
so when Google Chrome added support for extensions in 2009, He searched excitedly for the Adblock Plus port to Chrome. Then he found that it didn’t exist. There were a few other adblocking Chrome extensions in their infancy that weren’t terribly good, so He decided to build AdBlock For Chrome to fill the void.
Several months later Apple asked him to port it to Safari, so after a weekend of furious activity, He was able to present AdBlock For Safari at Apple’s WWDC 2010 conference.
How much money has AdBlock made?
Eyeo GmbH – the company behind AdBlock Plus – generated a revenue of 47 million euros in 2019, nearly 11 million euros in comparison to the result from 2018. The company earns money by charging websites for access to their whitelisting program called Acceptable Ads. (according to statista.com)
Also, read 10 Amazing Facts About Famous Movies
Michael Gundlach Net worth
Based on Online sources ( Wikipedia, Google Search, Yahoo search) Michael Gundlach’s estimated net worth is $ USD 6 Million.
