Automattic Board Out After Failed Bid to Oust CEO Matt Mullenweg

TL;DR

• Sources tell TechCrunch Automattic's board voted in early September to place CEO Matt Mullenweg on leave, but the decision was reversed within days.
• The directors behind the ouster attempt have now exited the company, leaving Mullenweg firmly back in control of Automattic.
• The failed coup caps a turbulent two years of lawsuits, staff departures, and uncertainty around WordPress.com, Tumblr, and the open-source WordPress ecosystem.

A Stunning Reversal in Just Days

In one of the most dramatic boardroom showdowns in recent open-source history, Automattic has ousted its own board of directors just days after that same board voted to sideline co-founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg.

Sources familiar with the matter tell TechCrunch that the board voted last week to place Mullenweg on immediate leave, citing concerns over his leadership, ongoing legal battles, and stewardship of the company. By this weekend, that decision had not only been reversed — the directors who backed it were gone.

Automattic has not publicly confirmed the shakeup, and Mullenweg did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But three sources close to the company described a chaotic 72-hour period that ended with Mullenweg reasserting full control over the $7.5 billion company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr, WooCommerce, and Jetpack.

It is an extraordinary outcome even by Automattic's standards, following nearly two years of public feuds, employee walkouts, and a high-stakes lawsuit with hosting rival WP Engine.

Inside the Vote to Sideline Mullenweg

According to sources, the vote to put Mullenweg on leave took place in early September during a previously scheduled board meeting that quickly turned contentious.

At issue, sources say, was a growing rift over Mullenweg's dual role as CEO of for-profit Automattic and de facto leader of the nonprofit WordPress.org open-source project. Directors raised concerns about mounting legal costs from the WP Engine litigation, a slowdown in WordPress.com commercial growth, continued losses at Tumblr, and fallout from last year's controversial employee buyout offer that saw more than 150 staffers leave.

One source described the vote as narrowly passed, with investor-aligned and independent directors voting in favor of a temporary leave and an outside investigation into governance. Mullenweg, who sits on the board and controls a majority of voting shares, was said to be blindsided.

For a few days, insiders say, the company operated in limbo. Senior executives were told Mullenweg would step back from day-to-day decisions while the board evaluated interim leadership.

Why the Coup Collapsed

What the board appears to have underestimated was Mullenweg's structural control.

Unlike a typical venture-backed startup, Automattic has long been architected around its founder. Mullenweg not only serves as CEO but holds super-voting control and personally controls key WordPress trademarks via the WordPress Foundation. Sources say that once news of the leave vote leaked internally, loyalist executives and key engineers threatened to resign, and outside allies in the WordPress community rallied to his defense.

By Friday, September 11, Mullenweg moved to dissolve and replace the board entirely — a power he retained under Automattic's corporate bylaws, according to two sources. The directors who had voted for his removal were terminated or asked to resign. A company-wide memo on Saturday framed the change as a move to align governance with Automattic's long-term, founder-led mission.

One former employee told TechCrunch: "You can't fire Matt from Automattic. Automattic is Matt. The board learned that the hard way."

Neither Insight Partners nor other major Automattic backers have commented publicly on whether they supported the ouster or the subsequent purge.

A Boardroom Battle Years in the Making

The failed ouster did not come out of nowhere. Tensions have been building since late 2024, when Mullenweg publicly declared WP Engine a "cancer to WordPress" and accused the private-equity-backed host of profiting off open source without giving back. That sparked a scorched-earth legal fight, with WP Engine suing Automattic for extortion and abuse of power, and Automattic countersuing over trademark infringement.

The battle bled into the community. WordPress.org briefly blocked WP Engine customers from accessing plugin updates, drew rebukes from contributors, and prompted a mass exodus of Automattic staff after Mullenweg offered a $30,000 "alignment" buyout to employees who disagreed with his crusade.

At the same time, Tumblr — acquired for just $3 million in 2019 — has struggled to find a path to profitability despite a loyal user base and a major backend migration to WordPress. WordPress.com growth has also stalled amid fierce competition from Wix, Squarespace, and AI website builders.

Sources say board members increasingly viewed those issues as existential, and viewed a temporary removal as a reset button. Mullenweg's camp viewed it as a hostile takeover of an open-source steward.

What the Shakeup Means for Automattic, WordPress.com and Tumblr

In the short term, the message is clear: Mullenweg is more entrenched than ever.

With a now-compliant board expected to be stacked with loyalists, he faces few internal checks as he heads into trial phases of the WP Engine case, continued restructuring, and a push to integrate AI tools across WordPress.com and WooCommerce. Insiders expect him to frame the episode as vindication — proof that Automattic must remain independent from short-term investor pressure.

But the risks are stark. TechCrunch has heard from multiple startup founders and agency partners who say trust in WordPress governance is at an all-time low. Major hosts and enterprise clients are quietly hedging with alternative CMS platforms. Recruiting top executive talent could become even harder without independent oversight.

For Tumblr, the upheaval adds fresh uncertainty. Mullenweg has repeatedly promised a Tumblr turnaround and has personally championed its open-source fediverse integrations. With no board to press for a sale or spin-off, Tumblr is likely to stay inside Automattic — for better or worse.

And for the broader WordPress ecosystem, which powers more than 40% of the web, the stakes could not be higher. Developers want stability, not palace intrigue.

Mullenweg is expected to address staff in a town hall this week. Whether he can turn a failed coup into a unifying moment — or whether it accelerates the fragmentation of WordPress — will define the next chapter of one of the internet's most important companies.

AndroGuider Team

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