Automattic Board Forces Matt Mullenweg on Involuntary Leave of Absence

In a sudden boardroom revolt that has sent shockwaves through the technology industry, Automattic has placed its founder and chief executive officer, Matt Mullenweg, on an involuntary paid leave of absence. The decision temporarily strips one of the open web's most prominent figures of operational control over the multi-billion-dollar commercial entity behind WordPress.com, Tumblr, and WooCommerce^[1].

The company board moved swiftly to install Chief Financial Officer Mark Davies as interim chief executive. Rather than stepping aside quietly, Mullenweg immediately went public inside the organization, posting a series of confrontational messages to an all-company channel that accused executive leadership and board directors of colluding against him.

An Internal Revolt Laid Bare on Slack

The boardroom maneuver surfaced on Wednesday when Mullenweg addressed employees directly in Automattic's internal communications channels. As first reported by 404 Media, Mullenweg claimed he was blindsided by the vote and given almost no opportunity to review the resolution with his own legal advisors^[5].

According to message logs obtained by 404 Media and verified by TechCrunch and The Verge, Mullenweg wrote that Davies worked behind his back alongside three members of the Automattic board of directors: former chief executive Toni Schneider, former Yahoo president Sue Decker, and retired U.S. Army general Ann Dunwoody.

Mark Davies, current Automattic Chief Financial Officer, has conspired with Automattic Board of Directors members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker behind my back and they voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that.

Matt Mullenweg, Automattic Co-Founder, in an internal company announcement

Mullenweg added in the post that he received the resolution just 50 minutes before the meeting began and was denied requests to postpone the session to consult outside legal counsel. Despite the bitter accusation, he formally noted that Davies had been voted in as interim CEO while wishing employees luck during the transition.

The Board Pushes Back and Installs New Leadership

Automattic board members quickly moved to steady company operations. Schneider, who preceded Mullenweg as Automattic chief executive from 2006 to 2014 before returning to the board, confirmed the disciplinary action in internal follow-ups reviewed by 404 Media. Schneider stated that the board decided to ask Mullenweg to step away from his role and take a formal leave, expressing full support for Davies to lead executive affairs during the interim^[2].

The governance structure at Automattic separates the corporate company from the non-profit and community arms of the wider open-source project. The following table summarizes the immediate governance fallout from the board's vote:

The governance divide creates a complex operational knot. In a message sent to the broader community, WordPress Foundation Executive Director Mary Hubbard confirmed that while Mullenweg's status at commercial Automattic had changed, he remains the leader of the open-source WordPress project itself. Mullenweg also retains his seat on the Automattic board of directors, meaning the board must still interact with its deposed chief executive during major shareholder decisions^[9].

Mounting Turmoil Across the WordPress Ecosystem

While the board has not released an exhaustive public accounting of the specific factors prompting the vote, the move arrives after an exceptionally turbulent period for Automattic and the broader WordPress ecosystem^[5].

Over the preceding months, Mullenweg had embarked on a high-stakes campaign against managed hosting provider WP Engine, accusing the private equity-backed rival of free-riding on the WordPress trademark without contributing sufficiently back to the open-source code base. The escalation led to sprawling federal lawsuits, reciprocal accusations of extortion, and sudden disruptions to WordPress plugin registries.

The aggressive posture sparked significant internal rebellion within Automattic. In late 2024, Mullenweg offered generous severance packages to any employee who disagreed with his strategic direction or his handling of the WP Engine fight. Approximately 159 employees, or roughly 8.4 percent of the workforce, opted to take the buyout and walk out the door. Successive rounds of voluntary exits and organizational friction followed, raising questions among institutional investors about corporate governance, brand risk, and executive stability.

Unresolved Questions and Future Outlook

The involuntary leave of absence raises immediate, thorny legal questions for both sides. In corporate practice, placing a founder on administrative or paid leave is frequently a preliminary step toward negotiating a formal resignation or a negotiated restructuring of equity and voting control. However, Mullenweg's scorched-earth Slack disclosure suggests he is unlikely to concede ground quietly^[7].

A critical unresolved tension is the entanglement between Automattic, the private commercial vendor, and WordPress.org, which Mullenweg owns and manages personally. Automattic provides significant engineering and operational infrastructure for the open-source content management system that powers more than 40 percent of the web. If relations between Mullenweg and Automattic's interim management fracture completely, the boundary between open-source community assets and commercial hosting services could face unprecedented operational strains^[2].

Neither Automattic representatives nor Mullenweg responded immediately to requests for detailed comment outside of their internal statements, leaving the tech industry watching closely to see whether the board's move restores calm or triggers an all-out corporate war.