Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic, greatest referred to as the dad or mum firm of WordPress.com, has been placed on a depart of absence by his board in opposition to his will, based on a Slack message seen by TechCrunch.
Earlier Wednesday, Mullenweg posted in a Slack channel seen to all staff that the corporate’s Chief Monetary Officer, Mark Davies, had “conspired” with different board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker to vote to place Mullenweg on a paid depart of absence.
The message learn:
And the largest information: I received’t be capable to make the [meeting] tomorrow. @Mark Davies has conspired with @Ann Dunwoody, @Toni, and @Sue Decker behind my again and so they voted to place me on a paid depart of absence. I voted in opposition to that. Wishing Mark and all of you the easiest.
To make clear @Mark Davies was voted as interim CEO. I obtained the decision 50 minutes earlier than the assembly begin, and requested repeatedly for time to have it reviewed by unbiased authorized counsel, even just a few hours, which was denied.
A Slack message to the open-source WordPress.org neighborhood from the mission’s govt director, Mary Hubbard, additionally confirmed Mullenweg’s change of standing on the industrial firm. Nonetheless, Hubbard mentioned that WordPress.org was not impacted. “Matt stays the chief of the WordPress mission and I stay Govt Director of WordPress. Our groups, priorities, and work proceed as deliberate,” she wrote.
Mullenweg’s Slack message didn’t clarify why Automattic’s board took this motion. Sources informed 404 Media, which was the primary to report the information, that Schneider — the previous CEO of Automattic from 2006 to 2014 — confirmed that the motion was initiated by the board. Davies additionally informed staff within the Slack channel that Mullenweg remained on the board of administrators.
In an emailed assertion to TechCrunch, Automattic confirmed Mullenweg was on depart.
“Matt Mullenweg is presently on depart from Automattic,” the e-mail learn. “Mark Davies, Automattic’s CFO, will lead the corporate as interim CEO. The Board has full confidence in Mark’s management and within the group’s means to execute in opposition to the corporate’s priorities.”
Automattic, which owns different manufacturers together with Tumblr, WooCommerce, and Pocket Casts, was based by Mullenweg in 2003 after he co-created the favored open-source content material administration system WordPress.
Over the previous few years, Mullenweg and the corporate have been mired in lawsuits and controversy. The corporate is in a protracted authorized battle with WP Engine, a WordPress internet hosting competitor. The lawsuit adopted allegations from Mullenweg that WP Engine was taking advantage of the open-source WordPress mission with out contributing again to the neighborhood, and he demanded it pay 8% of its month-to-month gross income as a royalty charge for utilizing the WordPress model.
WP Engine sued in October 2024, and accused Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic filed counterclaims final yr. In February, WP Engine claimed that Automattic supposed to focus on 10 more competitors with royalty claims.
Tensions grew to become so excessive beneath Mullenweg’s management that he told employees in 2024 to give up, with severance, in the event that they disagreed with him and 159 did so.
Final yr, Mullenweg additionally threatened to deactivate the accounts of a number of members of the open-source WordPress.org neighborhood, after two of them mentioned they deliberate to spearhead a brand new forked model of the open supply WordPress mission.
In April 2025, the corporate laid off 16% of its employees. The cuts included some longtime staff who had been with the corporate for greater than a decade, sources informed TechCrunch.
Some alumni have been asking present staff how they really feel in regards to the information, a supply informed TechCrunch. Some staff mentioned they have been “ecstatic” or “relieved” however others had combined feelings as a result of the transfer creates extra instability.
It isn’t clear why the corporate’s board made this resolution now. One individual speculated that the timing might have one thing to do with Mullenweg’s annual journey to the Burning Man competition, after which he tends to return “with concepts.” This yr’s competition ended on September 7.
Mullenweg didn’t instantly reply to our request for remark.
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