Opera co-founder Jon S. von Tetzchner is leaving Opera Software in June, the browser company said Friday.
"It has become clear that The Board, Management and I do notshare the same values and we do not have the same opinions on how to keep evolving Opera," von Tetzchner said in a memo to employees, as obtained by TechCrunch.
Opera representatives declined to comment.
Von Tetzchner co-founded Opera Software in 1995 with Geir Ivarsøy, and led the company up to 2010, when he stepped down as chief eexecutive to become a strategic adviser. His last day will be June 30.
Opera said that von Tetzchner "has ideas about new projects, but is not ready to reveal any of his ideas as of right now".
Opera has traditionally trailed behind the other browser makers; the most recent estimates from Net Applications put the combined market share of Opera and Opera Mini at 3.3 percent, well behind the various flavors of Internet Explorer (54.3 percent), Mozilla Firefox (21.7 percent), Google's Chrome (12.5 percent) and Apple's Safari (7.28 percent).
"We have had a lot of fun during these years, and to say that Jon has created a great company is an understatement", said Lars Boilesen, chief executive of Opera, in a statement. "He has taught me and everyone working here a lot. He believed in, and pushed out innovation after innovation that we see our competitors constantly struggling with copying, making Opera a first mover in the technological development of web browsers as we know them today. We are very proud of Jon, and of course of the company. We are aiming at 500 million users by 2013, and we have a very positive flow right now.
In his own statement published by the company, von Tetzchner said he was proud of what he accomplished.
"It is of course a choice that brings up a lot of emotions," von Tetzchner said. "When we first started out, we were a few guys in a really small office - now we are spread all over the world, have over 740 employees and over 200 million users. I am very proud of what we have accomplished, and look forward to following the company closely also in the future."
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