The Automattic board voted to grant founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg paid leave, with CFO Mark Davies stepping in as interim CEO. The company officially confirmed the leave and interim appointment but did not respond to conspiracy allegations.

Mullenweg stated in a publicly visible Slack message that Davies, along with board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker, voted for his paid leave behind his back, while he himself voted against it. He mentioned that the resolution was delivered just 50 minutes before the meeting, and his repeated requests for even a few hours for independent legal review were denied. Davies later informed employees that Mullenweg remains on the board and still has a voice in direction and decision-making.

Automattic's official stance to the media is that Mullenweg is currently on leave, and Davies is leading the company as interim CEO, with the board having full confidence in his execution of priorities. Spokesperson Megan Fox confirmed this arrangement in writing to The Verge. Schneider clarified in an internal channel that it was the board that requested Mullenweg to temporarily step down from the CEO position.

Automattic was founded by Mullenweg in 2005 and includes WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, Pocket Casts, and more. The open-source project WordPress.org is separate from the commercial company, and Mullenweg still controls the foundation side. Toni Schneider served as Automattic CEO from 2006 to 2014 before handing the position back to Mullenweg. The company's valuation was approximately $7.5 billion in 2021.

This leadership change occurs while a lawsuit against hosting provider WP Engine is still ongoing. Recent controversies surrounding trademarks, plugin directory login restrictions, and internal communication have strained the relationship between the commercial company and the open-source community. The board has not disclosed the specific reasons for this vote and has not defined the leave as a permanent dismissal.

In market terms, the buyers are enterprise clients seeking stability in hosting and plugin ecosystems, while the sellers are subscription revenues from WordPress.com and WooCommerce. The event is driven by governance conflicts rather than product releases. Beneficiaries include board members and large hosting providers looking to reduce litigation and community opposition risks; those under pressure are the growth narratives that tie the open-source brand to individuals. Control of WordPress.org has not transferred with the CEO position, potentially leading to dual management between the commercial company and the open-source project.

Automattic is a private company with no immediate stock price; points of observation include whether WP Engine will change legal strategies in the lawsuit and whether the login and plugin review rules for WordPress.org will change under the interim CEO's tenure.

Source: Public Information