Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg reportedly placed on leave
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Automattic has confirmed that founder and chief executive Matt Mullenweg has been placed on paid leave, with chief financial officer Mark Davies stepping in as interim CEO. Spokesperson Megan Fox told The Verge the board has "full confidence" in Davies's leadership, verifying a boardroom dispute first reported by 404 Media in which Mullenweg alleged Davies had "conspired" with fellow board members to force him out. The episode marks a striking rupture at the top of the WordPress.com parent company, given Mullenweg's decade-long, high-profile tenure as its figurehead, and follows a turbulent period in which his 2024 pressure campaign against a rival WordPress host split the open-source community and triggered litigation that continues today.
Board member Toni Schneider said the board had "decided to ask Matt to step away" and voiced confidence that Davies would "steer the ship well" in his absence, while Mullenweg insists he voted against the move himself. He named Davies, Schneider, Ann Dunwoody and Sue Decker as the board members responsible for the decision. Mullenweg, who co-founded WordPress.org and has led Automattic since 2014, remains on the company's board despite losing the chief executive role for the duration of his leave.
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In short
- Mullenweg placed on paid leave; CFO Mark Davies named interim CEO
- Mullenweg claims Davies "conspired" with board to oust him
- He remains a board member; dispute follows 2024 WordPress host controversy
How this story developed
- 1 month ago Automattic has confirmed that founder and chief executive Matt Mullenweg has been placed on a paid leave of absence, with chief financial officer Mark Davies stepping in as interim CEO.
- 2 months ago Automattic has confirmed that founder and chief executive Matt Mullenweg has been placed on paid leave, with chief financial officer Mark Davies stepping in as interim CEO.
- 2 months ago Matt Mullenweg, chief executive of WordPress.com parent company Automattic, has reportedly been placed on a paid leave of absence following a boardroom dispute.
Full account
Matt Mullenweg, the founder and chief executive of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr, WooCommerce and Pocket Casts, has been placed on a paid leave of absence by his own board. News of the move was first reported by 404 Media, which cited an internal message from Mullenweg himself, and was subsequently confirmed by Automattic to both The Verge and TechCrunch. Chief financial officer Mark Davies has been installed as interim chief executive while Mullenweg is away, though he remains a member of the company's board.
Mullenweg's account of events, shared in a Slack channel visible to Automattic staff, was combative. He wrote that Davies had "conspired" with fellow board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider and Sue Decker to force through the leave of absence, and that he had voted against the resolution himself. According to TechCrunch's reporting of the same message, Mullenweg said he was given only 50 minutes' notice of the resolution before the board meeting at which it was decided, and that repeated requests for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel were turned down. Neither his message nor the company's subsequent statements have publicly detailed the board's underlying reasons for the decision.
Schneider, who previously led Automattic as chief executive between 2006 and 2014, told 404 Media that the board had initiated the action, framing it as a decision to ask Mullenweg to step back while expressing confidence that Davies would run the company capably in his absence. Automattic's official statement, issued by spokesperson Megan Fox and given in near-identical terms to both The Verge and TechCrunch, confirmed that Mullenweg was on leave, that Davies would lead as interim chief executive, and that the board had full confidence in Davies and the wider team. Separately, Mary Hubbard, executive director of the open-source WordPress.org project, told the WordPress community that the leadership change at the commercial company did not extend to the project itself, stating that Mullenweg remained its leader and that her role and the project's work were unaffected.
The upheaval lands against a turbulent backdrop for Mullenweg and Automattic. He has run Automattic since 2014 after founding it in 2003, having earlier co-created the WordPress content management system and co-founded WordPress.org. In 2024 he led a public campaign against a major WordPress hosting rival, a dispute that split opinion within the open-source WordPress community and triggered litigation that remains unresolved. It is not yet clear how long Mullenweg's leave is expected to last or what, if anything, it signals about his long-term future at the company he founded.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
TechCrunch frames the move more pointedly as the board acting 'against his will' and forcing Mullenweg out, whereas The Verge's account is more restrained in tone.
TechCrunch includes additional detail from Mullenweg's Slack message not emphasised by The Verge — notably his claim that he was given only 50 minutes' notice of the board resolution and was denied time to seek independent legal counsel.
TechCrunch reports a statement from WordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard clarifying that the open-source WordPress project is unaffected by Mullenweg's leave from Automattic; this point is absent from The Verge's report.
The Verge attributes Automattic's confirmation statement to spokesperson Megan Fox specifically, while TechCrunch presents the same wording simply as an emailed company statement.
TechCrunch provides more corporate background on Automattic (its other brands, founding history) than The Verge, which focuses more narrowly on the leave itself and the 2024 WP Engine dispute.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates of the board's action would argue that directors have a fiduciary duty to step in when they judge a chief executive's conduct to be creating undue risk for the company, its staff and its shareholders. Mullenweg's history of unilateral, combative decisions, including the 2024 campaign against a major hosting partner that triggered ongoing litigation, gives a reasonable board cause to want a pause and independent oversight while concerns are examined. Placing a leader on paid leave, rather than dismissing them outright, with an experienced interim chief executive and a route back to the boardroom, can reasonably be presented as a measured, responsible governance mechanism rather than a hostile move.
The case against
Sympathisers with Mullenweg would point out that he is the company's founder and the figure most identified with its mission, and that being sidelined by a board vote he himself opposed raises legitimate questions of fairness and process. If, as he alleges, the chief financial officer coordinated with specific directors to engineer the outcome, that could reasonably be seen as an internal manoeuvre against a founder rather than a neutral governance response to demonstrated wrongdoing. Founders who have built and steered a company for over a decade, and who remain closely tied to its open-source community, can reasonably argue that removing them from day-to-day leadership, even temporarily, risks disrupting continuity and vision without clear, transparent justification being made public.
Explained simply
Matt Mullenweg is a well-known figure in the world of websites, best known as the co-founder of WordPress, the software that powers a huge proportion of the internet's websites. He is also chief executive of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and a range of other web tools, which he has led since 2014.
Automattic is a significant company in web infrastructure, meaning any upheaval in its leadership can have knock-on effects for the many businesses and websites that rely on its products. Mullenweg has been a prominent and sometimes controversial figure in this space, including a 2024 dispute with a major WordPress hosting company that led to an ongoing legal battle.
The people involved in the current situation include Automattic's board members and its chief financial officer, Mark Davies, who oversee major decisions about the company's direction and leadership. Understanding this background helps explain why a dispute at board level, involving accusations and a leadership change, is being closely watched by those who use or work with WordPress and Automattic's other services.
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