former ceo opera

Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner is one of the early pioneers of mobile web browser development. The Icelandic entrepreneur had always wanted to create browsers that fulfil the specific needs of the users. The man behind Opera, the much in demand, mobile web browser, and the former CEO of Opera Software is a browser Visionary. The values, that this 6’5” businessman holds, has led the two of his browsers to become the most loved browsers of all.

Early Life

Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner was born on 29 August 1967, in Reykjavík, Iceland. His father Stephen von Tetzchner is of Norwegian ethnicity and worked as a professor of psychology. His mother Elsa Jónsdóttir belongs to the Icelands. Tetzchner spent most of his childhood in Seltjarnarnes with his grandparents. He completed his education from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík School and later, moved to Norway, to pursue a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Oslo.

Founding Opera

In 1991, after graduating with a master’s degree from the University of Oslo, Tetzchner started working at the Norwegian state phone company, that was later, renamed as Telenor. Tetzchner was a member of a research team of the company, where he met Geir Ivarsøy. Tetzchner and Geir, with the team, developed a browsing software called MultiTorg Opera. Due to some reasons, Telenor abandoned the project. Tetzchner and Geir were familiar with the potential of the project, hence acquired the rights related to it. In 1995, both Tetzchner and Geir, left the company to establish their own software development firm, named as Opera Software, Tetzchner becoming the CEO, and Geir the lead programmer of the company. The two kept on working on and improving the Opera browser to make it more user-friendly.

In 1998, the two started working on the different platform compatibility of Opera Browser, and in 2000, launched Opera 4.0, a multi-platform compatible browser. The first four of the versions of the browser that Opera launched, were all paid, providing the user one month trial period. But, after Opera’s fifth version came, all of the Opera versions were free to use. The new versions of Opera browser received sponsorship from displaying ads on it.

On 21 April 2005, the company launched Opera 8. At the launch meeting, Tetzchner announced that he would swim in the Atlantic Ocean from Norway to the United States if the new Opera 8 will get one million downloads, within four days. He made the statement and had to complete the challenge only after two days of its launch, as the downloads for Opera 8 reached 1,050,000 by 23 April. Though he could not complete the challenge and fail in no time.

As soon as Opera Software launched the Opera 8.5, the ads were removed from the browser, and Opera received a sponsorship from Google, making Google its default search engine.

As the CEO of the company, Tetzchner led Opera Software successfully, making it global, and established its offices in 13 different countries, including Poland, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, US, Iceland and Singapore.

In January 2010, Tetzchner left the post of the CEO of Opera, and in June 2011, he officially left Opera, to found Vivaldi Technologies. At the time he was the CEO of Opera Software, the Opera browser had reached 350 million users. Now, Opera Software is a Chinese company.

Tetzchner, in December 2013, started a new venture Vivaldi Technologies, and launched its new web browser Vivaldi 1.0 version, in April 2016. Tetzchner serves as the CEO of the company. Vivaldi Technologies is a self-funded company, in which the employees hold the equity.