Slack messages: Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg says he has been put on paid leave after CFO Mark Davies “conspired” with board members and was voted interim CEO
Mullenweg, co-founder of Wordpress, wrote in a company-wide Slack channel on Wednesday that board members “conspired” …
The change also sharpens the distinction between Automattic’s corporate management and the wider WordPress project. A WordPress leader publicly said the project’s leadership and direction were unchanged; that is an assurance from the project, not an explanation of the board’s action.
First-order effects
Mark Davies assumes interim control of Automattic after the board vote, while Mullenweg is removed from the company’s day-to-day CEO role during paid leave.
Automattic employees and executives must route operating decisions through Davies at a company already reshaped by the 2025 workforce reduction.
Second-order effects
The interim handoff makes Davies responsible for translating Automattic’s post-layoff strategy into execution, putting management continuity and employee confidence at the center of the transition.
Public efforts to separate WordPress project continuity from Automattic’s leadership change become more important for users and contributors assessing whether the corporate disruption affects project governance.
Third-order effects
The episode tests whether Automattic can separate founder influence over WordPress from board-supervised corporate management without confusing the constituencies that overlap across both.
If the board-led arrangement persists, Automattic will be a consequential example of governance asserting control at a founder-associated company after a period of workforce and community conflict.
The trend: Founder-linked technology organizations are facing sharper pressure to distinguish community stewardship from accountable corporate governance.
Following reports of Matt's role change at Automattic, I want to assure you that WordPress leadership and direction remain unchanged. Matt continues to lead our project, and I remain Executive Director. I'm grateful to everyone making this possible as we keep building together.
Well, alrighty then. Honestly, hard to complain about this one. Matt's position has grown past his ability to occupy it, IMO. https://www.404media.co/...
Whatever you think of the @automattic and @photomatt current situation. Try to remember that Matt and @mikelittlezed1 built something we all use for free, to make money. I know it's hard for some, but also try and remember Matt is a mere human and is probably feeling pretty down …
So an interesting thing to watch for, here, is that Automattic **doesn't own the WordPress trademark**. That's owned by the nonprofit Foundation, which is three Matt Mullenwegs in a trenchcoat, and sublicensed to Automattic. So he could revoke that, which would be HILARIOUS. […
breaking: Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has been put on a “leave of absence” by the company's board. Mullenweg claims board “conspired” to push him out — www.404media.co/wordpress-au...
yikes i do not even want to imagine what pushed them far enough to do this, based on what they've allowed in the past. — www.theverge.com/tech/993022/ ...
Matt Mullenweg finally got nuked from Automattic. I'm honestly blown away that it took this long...I would have expected this just a few months into the massive PR crisis he singlehandedly caused last year. Instead, it took over a year. The whole thing has been like a slow motion…
Matt spent the last few years doing a bad Elon Musk impersonation and it looks like the board finally had enough. I can only guess that it's because the money is running out. Boards tolerate a lot so long as the money is flowing. — www.404media.co/wordpress-au...
Mullenweg, co-founder of Wordpress, wrote in a company-wide Slack channel on Wednesday that board members “conspired” behind his back to vote to put him on leave.
Live your life so that your board of directors doesn't conspire to force you into a leave of absence. — (Will be interesting to see in what particular way Mullenweg chooses to post through it.) — #WordPress #Automattic — https://www.404media.co/...