Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner (Icelandic: Jón; born 29 August 1967 in

Seltjarnarnes Seltjarnarnes () is a town and municipality in the Capital Region of Iceland. The municipality is located on a peninsula, bordered only by Reykjavík to the east. It is also the most densely populated municipality in Iceland. It took on its curr ...

) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic- Norwegian

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

and businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of Vivaldi Technologies. Before starting the Vivaldi Web browser, he launched a community site called Vivaldi.net. Tetzchner is also a co-founder and former CEO of

Opera Software Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a Norwegian multinational technology corporation headquartered in Oslo, Norway with additional offices in European Union, Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that inclu ...

Early life

Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner is the son of the Icelander Elsa Jónsdóttir and the Norwegian Stephen von Tetzchner, a professor of psychology (and the brother of politician

Michael Tetzschner Michael Christian von Tetzschner (born 9 February 1954 in Copenhagen, Denmark), commonly known as Michael Tetzschner, is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. He is the President of the Nordic Council during 2018. Tetzschner was G ...

). Jon Stephenson grew up around Skólabraut in the town of

with his grandparents, the doctor Jón Gunnlaugsson and Selma Kaldalóns, the daughter of the doctor and composer

Sigvaldi Kaldalóns Sigvaldi Kaldalóns (Stefánsson) (13 January 1881 – 28 July 1946) was an Icelandic composer and doctor. Unlike the avant-garde composers of his day, he wrote in a traditional romantic style and composed many of Iceland's most famous and widel ...

. Tetzchner went to secondary school at the

Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (MR; official name in English: Reykjavik College) is collegein Iceland. It is located in Reykjavík. The school traces its origin to 1056, when a school was established in Skálholt, and it remains one of the oldest ...

before continuing his studies in Norway, where he made his career. Tetzchner holds a master's degree in computer science from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

Opera Software

Tetzchner worked at the Norwegian state phone company (now known as

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

) from 1991 to 1995. There, he and

Geir Ivarsøy Geir Ivarsøy (June 27, 1957 – March 9, 2006) was the lead programmer at Opera Software. He and Jon von Tetzchner were part of a research group at the Norwegian state phone company (now known as Telenor) where they developed browsing software ...

developed browsing software called MultiTorg Opera. The project was abandoned by Telenor, but Ivarsøy and von Tetzchner obtained the rights to the software, formed a company named

in 1995 and continued working on the

Opera browser Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

. In 1996 it was offered for sale to the public. On 21 April 2005, Tetzchner proclaimed at an internal meeting of Opera Software that if the download numbers of the browser's new version Opera 8 reached one million within four days, he would swim across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

from Norway to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Two days later, on the 23rd, the downloads reached 1,050,000 and Tetzchner had to fulfill his challenge. The Opera site covered the swim and his quick failure. Under his leadership, Tetzchner turned Opera Software into a global company with more than 750 employees in 13 countries. Opera Software was an early pioneer in mobile web browser and more than 350 million people use Opera. In January 2010, Tetzchner stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Opera Software, but he continued to serve the company as a strategic adviser. In June 2011, Tetzchner announced that he was leaving Opera Software over disagreements with management.

Vivaldi Technologies

In December 2013, Tetzchner founded the company Vivaldi Technologies and launched the

online community An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members engage in computer-mediated communication primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, on ...

site vivaldi.net, which includes a forum, blogs, chat, photo sharing and a free email service named Vivaldi Webmail. On 27 January 2015, Vivaldi Technologies announced the release of its new web browser

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

. Its 1.0 version came out in April 2016. Vivaldi is self-funded.

References

External links

*
Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner's blog at Vivaldi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetzchner, Jon Stephenson Von 1967 births Living people 21st-century Icelandic businesspeople Opera Software employees Icelandic people of Norwegian descent

von The term () is used in German surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means or . Nobility directories like the often abbreviate the noble term to ''v.'' ...