Sources: Matt Mullenweg offered another buyout offer to Automattic staff; Mullenweg appears to have redirected staff's Blind sign-up emails to himself
🍿🍿 🍿 🍿 — https://www.404media.co/... @noellemitchell@mstdn.social : “Instead of Blind, employees have been posting on Anonymattic, an anonymous message board set up on WordPress's own systems that allows all employees to post using one login.” — ""There is a vocal group of sycophants who are cheering on Matt's actions via Anonymattic," they said, “drawing favorable comparisons to how Elon Musk and Donald Trump operate. … Russell Ivanovic / @rustyshelf@mastodon.social : If you think all the current drama over Wordpress has anything at all to do with Trademarks or WPEngine I have a bridge to sell you. Regular CEOs don't redirect your email to their inbox without telling you and then later brag about it. — https://www.404media.co/... David Gerard / @davidgerard@circumstances.run : lol holy shit. Mullenweg/Automattic offers a *second* round of 6mo redundancy pay in the hope of purging more dissenters — https://www.404media.co/... Jason Koebler / @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social : New: Automattic is offering employees *another* buyout after the first buyout failed to purge the company of dissent over the WordPress/WP Engine situation. Employee signups to Blind also rerouted to CEO Matt Mullenweg. Wild story and situation: — https://www.404media.co/... Bluesky: @self.agency : the incredible imploding blogging platform — there are already multiple forks underway [embedded post] Forums: Hacker News : Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic r/Wordpress : Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic Over WordPress Chaos BeauHD / Slashdot : Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic 2
Context & Ripple Effects
The report arrives as the WordPress/WP Engine conflict was widening: WordPress.org had cut WP Engine’s free access, and WordPress then took control of the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. That external fight makes internal dissent and employee communications a material governance issue, not merely a workplace dispute.
Automattic’s prior employee liquidity arrangements show that staff ownership and retention had been part of its operating model; a new exit offer changes the practical balance between retaining dissenting employees and letting them leave.
First-order effects
- A second reported buyout offer gives Automattic employees a defined path to exit while management attempts to reduce internal conflict; it also puts immediate retention pressure on teams that remain.
- The reported rerouting of Blind sign-up emails, if accurate, compromises employees’ confidence that an outside anonymous channel is private and pushes discussion toward internal alternatives such as Anonymattic.
Second-order effects
- A visible loss of trust around anonymous reporting can make recruiting and retention harder, particularly for staff whose work depends on confidence in Automattic and WordPress governance.
- The employment dispute can amplify scrutiny of Mullenweg’s control over WordPress infrastructure after the WP Engine access cutoff, giving the commercial conflict a stronger workplace-governance dimension.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern persists, the line between leadership of open-source infrastructure and management of its commercial steward will become a more important source of ecosystem risk for contributors, partners, and employees.
- The episode suggests that credible independent employee-feedback channels may become a governance expectation at founder-led platform companies, though the available reporting does not establish whether Automattic will change its practices.
The trend: Founder control of critical platform infrastructure is increasingly being tested not only by competitors and users, but by employees seeking credible channels to challenge management decisions.