
Adblock, a popular extension for blocking advertising in Chrome and Safari with more than 40 million users, was quietly sold today.
The extension displayed a popup on October 1 saying that it is now allowing EyeOβs acceptable advertising β which allows advertisers to buy their way onto the whitelist β through the filter.
https://twitter.com/aahaworth/status/649702548358701056
Buried in the bottom of that message, however, was a more notable change: Adblock has been sold.
Whatβs strange is that the company wonβt disclose who itβs been sold to, why it was sold, or how much it was sold for.
For the extensionβs claimed 40 million users this raises an interesting question: Can the extension continue to be trusted if the new proprietor is entirely anonymous?
TNW contacted Adblockβs remaining staff to ask if theyβd disclose the buyer but the company refused, saying that the purchaser had specifically asked not to be named.
The only thing the team would tell us is that the toolβs creator Michael Gundlach will no longer have any relationship with the company β that probably means heβs cashed out.
Adblockβs previous director, Gabriel Cubbage, is now running things under the new owner.
Since its launch in 2009, Adblock featured a screen that pushed users to pay for the use of the extension because it was classed as βhonor-ware.β An ironic gesture, considering its existence technically deprives others of money.

Gundlach worked full time on Adblock after he quit his job in 2011, able to survive on the proceeds of donations from users prompted to βgiftβ money toward the development when installing the extension.
Whatβs interesting is six months ago Adblock changed its name suddenly to BetaFish Adblocker, claiming it was an βexperiment.β
BetaFish is the name of Gundlachβs holding company that owned Adblock and around the same time had applied for a US trademark on the word βAdblock.β
Support staff claimed five months ago that the company was not being purchased by someone or preparing for participation acceptable ad program, but the move may have pre-empted todayβs deal.
The name was later changed back to simply βAdblockβ without further explanation.
The sale comes at an interesting time for publishers as the debate rages over whether adblocking will become widespread, as Apple has allowed iOS user to block ads on their mobile devices for the first time.
For users of Adblock, the uncertainty over ownership of the Adblock extension is a reasonable concern, particularly if the new buyer has any sort of agenda with the purchase of the extension.
Why would they keep their identity secret, if itβs a legitimate deal? Itβs possible that the new owner simply wants to sit back and let the cash roll in, or was looking for a way to gain back some control.
Weβve contacted Michael Gundlach for further comment on the sale and secrecy, but havenβt heard back at time of writing.
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