Opera (company)

Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a Norwegian multinational technology corporation headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with additional offices in Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that include PC and mobile web browsers, GameMaker and gaming portals, the Opera News content recommendation products, the Opera Ads platform, and a number of Web3 and e-commerce products and services. The company's total user base is 296 million monthly active users.

Opera is now majority-owned by the Chinese company Kunlun Tech Co., Ltd.

On 27 July 2018, Opera Limited became a public company listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, raising $115 million in its initial public offering.

Opera was founded as an independent company in Norway in 1995 by the Icelandic Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy. They had initially begun development of the Opera web browser while both working at Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor.

Opera's first product, the Opera web browser version 2.10 for Windows, was publicly released in 1996. Opera began development of its first browser for mobile device platforms in 1998. Opera 4.0, released in 2000, included a new cross-platform core that facilitated creation of editions of Opera for multiple operating systems and platforms.

Up to this point, the Opera browser was trialware and had to be purchased after the trial period ended, however, this ended with version 5.0, released in 2000. Instead, Opera became ad-sponsored, displaying advertisements to users without a license, which was commonly criticized as a barrier to gaining market share. In newer versions, the user was allowed a choice of generic graphical banners or text-based targeted advertisements provided by Google based upon the page being viewed.

In February 2004, Opera announced it was preparing for an initial public offering on the Oslo Stock Exchange in March. On 11 March, Opera's IPO opened, trading under the symbol OPERA.

In 2004, Opera settled a lawsuit with an "international corporation" paying US$12.75 million to Opera. It was speculated that the "international corporation" named in the statement announcing the settlement was Microsoft, which had previously blocked Opera users from correctly viewing MSN.com.