Automattic's board pushes Mullenweg out

Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic — the company behind WordPress.com — was placed on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. The message, posted in a channel visible to all employees, said CFO Mark Davies had "conspired" with other board members to vote him out of day-to-day leadership.

The Slack message that broke it

Mullenweg posted the news himself, writing that he would not be able to attend a meeting the following day. "And the biggest news: I won't be able to make the [meeting] tomorrow. @Mark Davies has conspired with @Ann Dunwoody, @Toni, and @Sue Decker behind my back and they voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that. Wishing Mark and all of you the very best," the message read.

In a follow-up, he clarified that Davies had been voted in as interim CEO. "To clarify @Mark Davies was voted as interim CEO. I received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting start, and requested repeatedly for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel, even a few hours, which was denied," he wrote.

Davies told employees in the same Slack channel that Mullenweg remains on the company's board of directors.

Board members named in the vote

The message identifies the board members involved: Davies, Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker. Schneider is a former CEO of Automattic, having led the company from 2006 to 2014, and sources told 404 Media — which first reported the news — that he confirmed the action was initiated by the board.

Mullenweg's Slack message did not explain why the board took the step. One person speculated that the timing may be tied to Mullenweg's annual trip to the Burning Man festival, after which he tends to return "with ideas." This year's festival ended on September 7.

WordPress.org says it is unaffected

A Slack message to the open-source WordPress.org community from the project's executive director, Mary Hubbard, also confirmed the change in status at the commercial company. Hubbard said WordPress.org was not impacted. "Matt remains the leader of the WordPress project and I remain Executive Director of WordPress. Our teams, priorities, and work continue as planned," she wrote.

That distinction matters because Automattic, the for-profit company, is separate from the WordPress.org open-source project, even though both are closely tied to Mullenweg's leadership. Automattic owns brands including Tumblr, WooCommerce, and Pocket Casts, and was founded by Mullenweg in 2003 after he co-created WordPress.

Company confirms the leave

In an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Automattic confirmed Mullenweg was on leave. "Matt Mullenweg is currently on leave from Automattic," the email read. "Mark Davies, Automattic's CFO, will lead the company as interim CEO. The Board has full confidence in Mark's leadership and in the team's ability to execute against the company's priorities."

Mullenweg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A company already deep in litigation

Over the past few years, Mullenweg and Automattic have been mired in lawsuits and controversy. The company is in a protracted legal battle with WP Engine, a WordPress web hosting competitor. The dispute followed allegations from Mullenweg that WP Engine was profiting from the open-source WordPress project without contributing back to the community, and he demanded it pay 8% of its monthly gross revenue as a royalty fee for using the WordPress brand.

WP Engine sued in October 2024, accusing Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic filed counterclaims last year. In February, WP Engine claimed that Automattic intended to target 10 more competitors with royalty claims.

Tensions became so high under Mullenweg's leadership that he told employees in 2024 to quit, with severance, if they disagreed with him — and 159 did so. Last year, Mullenweg also threatened to deactivate the accounts of several members of the open-source WordPress.org community, after two of them said they planned to spearhead a new forked version of the open-source WordPress project.

Staff reaction: relief and unease

Some alumni have been asking current employees how they feel about the news, a source told TechCrunch. Some employees said they were "ecstatic" or "relieved," but others had mixed emotions because the move creates more instability.

In April 2025, the company laid off 16% of its staff. The cuts included some longtime employees who had been with the company for more than a decade, sources told TechCrunch.

Why the timing is still unexplained

It isn't clear why the board made this decision now, and neither the Slack message nor the company statement offers a reason. The only explanation on record is the anonymous speculation about Burning Man, which the source did not present as confirmed.

What is confirmed: Mullenweg voted against the resolution, asked for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel, and was denied that time. He received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting started. Davies is now interim CEO, and Mullenweg remains on the board.

What this means for WordPress users and businesses

Automattic's ownership of WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Tumblr means the leadership change touches a wide range of commercial services, even as the open-source WordPress.org project is said to be unaffected. For businesses and developers who build on WordPress, the practical question is whether the interim leadership changes priorities around hosting, commerce tools, or the ongoing WP Engine litigation. Automattic's statement said the board has full confidence in Davies and in the team's ability to execute against the company's priorities, but it did not detail what those priorities are under interim leadership.

The litigation with WP Engine remains unresolved, and WP Engine's February claim that Automattic intended to target 10 more competitors with royalty claims is still part of the case. A change in CEO could affect how aggressively that litigation is pursued, though nothing in the source confirms a shift in legal strategy. For now, the clearest signal is that Automattic's board moved without the CEO's agreement, and the company has not explained why.