Automattic says Matt Mullenweg is CEO again after board-ordered leave

Why it matters

Automattic confirmed on September 9th that its board had placed founder Matt Mullenweg on leave and named Mark Davies interim CEO. Mullenweg claimed two days later that he was back in control, and a company spokesperson subsequently called him chairman and CEO with the board's full support, but no public board statement explains a formal reinstatement or how authority is now divided.

Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) is chairman and CEO of Automattic, according to an Automattic spokesperson, three days after Automattic confirmed that its board had put him on paid leave and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO. Automattic described Mullenweg as chairman and CEO to TechCrunch on Saturday evening, saying he had the "full support of the board."

The declaration provides Automattic's latest answer on Mullenweg's title. No public board statement documents a formal vote or other action reinstating him, leaving the mechanics unexplained. Automattic has not disclosed what changed between Wednesday's decision and Saturday's endorsement, or what authority Davies retains.

Mullenweg co-created the open-source WordPress software with Mike Little in 2003, when he was 19. He later left CNET and founded Automattic in 2005 to build commercial services around open-source publishing, starting with products including WordPress.com and Akismet. In an archived interview about Automattic's origins, Mullenweg described a plan to build sustainable businesses around open-source publishing and make online publishing broadly accessible.

That structure worked for two decades. It also made Mullenweg difficult to separate from the organization he built. He chairs Automattic's board, leads Automattic and remains a central authority in the separate WordPress open-source project.

Three days of conflicting claims

As RuntimeWire reported on September 9th, Mullenweg told employees that Automattic's board had acted behind his back to place him on paid leave. TechCrunch reported that Mullenweg opposed the resolution and said he received it less than an hour before the meeting, without the additional time he requested for independent legal review. The precise governance mechanism, including which directors supported the leave, has not been disclosed.

Automattic then confirmed that Mullenweg was on leave. Its Wednesday statement said Davies would lead Automattic as interim CEO with the board's "full confidence," presenting the leave as an immediate leadership transition.

Mullenweg did not act like a departed chief executive. By Friday, he had told employees that the board was back in agreement and that he controlled Automattic again, according to messages reported by TechCrunch. TechCrunch also reported that Mullenweg removed other administrators from Automattic's Slack workspace. Davies' Slack account had been deactivated, according to the report.

Mullenweg's September 11th return began as his claim of reinstatement. The report did not identify a public board statement formally restoring him or naming him chairman. An Automattic spokesperson subsequently described Mullenweg as chairman and CEO and pointed TechCrunch toward public messages of support from executives and employees that Mullenweg had reposted on X.

Mullenweg has treated the episode as another recurring test of founder authority.

Mullenweg on X

"This was likely the fifth time I've faced a 'coup.'"

The founder's authority extended beyond his title

The leave changed Mullenweg's corporate status without ending his role in the separate open-source project. WordPress.org Executive Director Mary Hubbard told the open-source community that Mullenweg remained leader of the WordPress project and that WordPress.org's work would continue as planned, according to a Slack message reported by TechCrunch. Public reporting found no apparent effect on the separate WordPress.org open-source project.

The distinction between Automattic and WordPress.org is legally and organizationally important. It becomes less clean in practice when the same founder leads both worlds and has spent more than 20 years building WordPress. The competing messages left employees, developers and commercial partners to infer how much authority each side retained.

The reporting does not establish Automattic's ownership or voting arrangements, and Automattic has not described the resolution or any process behind Mullenweg's reported return. The public record establishes that the board placed Mullenweg on leave and Automattic confirmed Davies as interim CEO. Mullenweg later claimed reinstatement, followed by an Automattic spokesperson describing him as chairman and CEO, but no public board action restoring his titles has been identified.

Automattic's public pages leave governance questions open

Automattic's public board page appeared to list Ann Dunwoody, Matt Mullenweg, Sue Decker and Toni Schneider as directors as of September 12th. TechCrunch separately reported that Automattic's board composition may be changing.

Public reporting does not explain why the board sought Mullenweg's leave, which directors backed either decision, or how the company moved from the board's "full confidence" in Davies to a spokesperson's assertion of "full support" for Mullenweg within the same week.

Davies joined Automattic as CFO in 2019 after finance and executive roles at Vivint Smart Home, Alcoa, Dell, Applied Materials and Hewlett-Packard. The September 12th spokesperson statement did not specify Davies' role following Mullenweg's reported return.

Investors have money riding on the answer

Automattic operates far beyond WordPress.com. Its current product directory includes WooCommerce, Tumblr, Jetpack, Beeper, Day One, Pocket Casts and WordPress VIP among dozens of publishing, commerce, messaging and infrastructure projects. Automattic says it employs more than 1,400 people across more than 80 countries.

Automattic is also backed by institutional investors whose oversight depends on a functioning board. Salesforce Ventures led a $300 million financing at a $3 billion valuation in 2019. Automattic's timeline records another $288 million financing in 2021, which research reports valued Automattic at approximately $7.5 billion. Separately, Mullenweg said Automattic conducted a $250 million employee share buyback in 2021 at the same $7.5 billion valuation.

Automattic describes itself as privately held and independent. The disclosed financing still makes the governance dispute consequential beyond an internal personnel matter. Employees and investors received two sharply different messages from Automattic within three days: the board's "full confidence" in Davies, followed by an Automattic spokesperson's assertion of "full support" for Mullenweg.

An Automattic spokesperson identifies Mullenweg as chairman and CEO, while the balance of power inside Automattic remains opaque. Automattic still has to run a broad product portfolio, compete in hosted publishing and commerce, and manage more than 1,400 distributed employees. The sequence showed how difficult it is to separate Automattic's formal governance from the founder whose authority spans its board role and the WordPress project.