diff --git a/wp-includes/default-widgets.php b/wp-includes/default-widgets.php
index 0e27859d5a..2545957e1f 100644
--- a/wp-includes/default-widgets.php
+++ b/wp-includes/default-widgets.php
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ class WP_Widget_Meta extends WP_Widget {
 			<li><?php wp_loginout(); ?></li>
 			<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('rss2_url'); ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr(__('Syndicate this site using RSS 2.0')); ?>"><?php _e('Entries <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr>'); ?></a></li>
 			<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('comments_rss2_url'); ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr(__('The latest comments to all posts in RSS')); ?>"><?php _e('Comments <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr>'); ?></a></li>
-			<?php echo apply_filters( 'widget_meta_poweredby', sprintf( '<li><a href="%s" title="%s">%s</li>',
+			<?php echo apply_filters( 'widget_meta_poweredby', sprintf( '<li><a href="%s" title="%s">%s</a></li>',
 				esc_url( __( 'http://wordpress.org/' ) ),
 				esc_attr__( 'Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.' ),
 				_x( 'WordPress.org', 'meta widget link text' )