Automattic’s board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into a leave of absence

Matt Mullenweg, the founder and chief executive of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, has been placed on a paid leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch.

In that message, posted on Wednesday to a channel visible to every employee, Mullenweg wrote that chief financial officer Mark Davies had “conspired” with fellow board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider and Sue Decker to vote him into leave. He said he received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting began and asked repeatedly for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel, “even a few hours, which was denied.” Davies was voted in as interim CEO, while Mullenweg remains a member of the board of directors.

The company confirms the change

Automattic confirmed the move in an emailed statement to TechCrunch: “Matt Mullenweg is currently on leave from Automattic. 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.” 404 Media was first to report the news and was told by sources that Toni Schneider, Automattic’s chief executive from 2006 to 2014, confirmed the board itself initiated the action. Mullenweg did not respond to a request for comment, and his own message does not explain the board’s motives.

WordPress.org says its work continues

Mary Hubbard, executive director of the open-source WordPress.org project, told that community that Mullenweg’s change of status at the commercial company does not affect the project. “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. Automattic, founded by Mullenweg in 2003 after he co-created WordPress, also owns Tumblr, WooCommerce and Pocket Casts.

A company defined by its legal fights

The decision lands in the middle of a protracted legal battle with WP Engine, a WordPress hosting competitor. The dispute began after Mullenweg accused WP Engine of profiting from the open-source WordPress project without contributing back to the community, and demanded that it pay 8% of its monthly gross revenue as a royalty for the WordPress brand. WP Engine sued in October 2024, accusing Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power; Automattic filed counterclaims last year, and in February WP Engine claimed in a new filing that the company planned to target ten more competitors with royalty claims.

Tensions under Mullenweg had run high before: in 2024 he told employees to quit with severance if they disagreed with him, and 159 did. He later threatened to deactivate accounts of community members he believed were organising a fork of WordPress, and the deactivations went ahead. In April 2025, Automattic cut 16% of its staff. Some employees told TechCrunch they felt “ecstatic” or “relieved” about the board’s decision; others were ambivalent, because the change adds instability.