1 hour ago
9
Matt Mullenweg, the co-creator of WordPress and longtime CEO of Automattic, told employees he’s back in control of the company just two days after its board voted to put him on paid leave. The claim, made in a Slack message seen by TechCrunch, has not been confirmed by Automattic, leaving one of the internet’s most important infrastructure companies in a state of corporate limbo.
The boardroom coup and its rapid reversal
On September 9, Automattic’s board voted to place Mullenweg on paid leave, a move he publicly opposed. The board members behind the decision included CFO Mark Davies, Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker. Davies was named interim CEO.
Mullenweg reportedly received the resolution detailing his removal roughly 50 minutes before the board meeting where it was voted on.
Despite the leave, Mullenweg retained his seat on the board. Davies told employees internally that Mullenweg would still have a voice in the company’s direction.
By September 11, Mullenweg messaged Automattic’s staff via Slack to declare he had regained control. The company has stayed silent on whether this is actually true.
A company already under pressure
The company remains entangled in a legal battle with WP Engine, a major WordPress hosting provider. That dispute has raised serious questions about governance within the broader WordPress ecosystem and Mullenweg’s dual role as both a corporate CEO and a steward of an open-source project used by millions.
Automattic has also gone through workforce reductions recently. The conflict with WP Engine began escalating in 2024, culminating in legal action and court rulings that restored access for WP Engine and led to significant internal restructuring at Automattic.
WordPress.org’s leadership has affirmed that the open-source project’s day-to-day operations have not been disrupted by the corporate turmoil at Automattic.
What makes this unusual
The Sam Altman parallel is instructive. In that case, the board fired the CEO, the company’s employees and investors revolted, and the CEO was reinstated within a week. Mullenweg’s timeline, if his Slack message is accurate, was even faster: roughly 48 hours from removal to claimed restoration. But OpenAI’s board ultimately confirmed Altman’s return. Automattic hasn’t confirmed anything.
The fact that Mullenweg retained his board seat throughout the episode gave him a structural advantage that most ousted CEOs don’t have.
What to watch now
The immediate question is whether Automattic’s board will publicly confirm or deny Mullenweg’s claim. The WP Engine litigation adds another layer of complexity, as corporate governance disputes tend to embolden opposing legal teams who can point to internal chaos as evidence that the other side’s decision-making is compromised.
Mullenweg founded Automattic in 2005 and has been a pivotal figure in the WordPress ecosystem for two decades. The intertwining of Automattic’s commercial interests with the open-source WordPress project creates additional layers of complication during this leadership crisis.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
English (US) ·