Automattic Names New Board After Failed Attempt to Remove CEO Matt Mullenweg
TL;DR
- An employee-backed push to place Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg on temporary leave failed this week after days of closed-door board negotiations.
- Automattic has named a reshaped board that keeps Mullenweg as CEO and chair while adding new independent and employee-aligned directors.
- The company says WordPress.com, Tumblr, and its enterprise and open-source work will continue without a sale or spin-off, with a stability plan due in October.
The Push to Sideline Mullenweg
The upheaval began early last week, when a group of current and former Automattic staffers and allies circulated an internal letter calling for the board to place Matt Mullenweg on paid leave pending an independent review of leadership, workplace culture, and legal strategy.
Sources described the proposal as a time-boxed cooling-off period, not a termination. It called for an interim CEO committee to run day-to-day operations while outside counsel reviewed HR complaints, turnover from last year's buyout offer, and the fallout from Automattic's long-running dispute with WP Engine.
Mullenweg publicly pushed back, calling the effort a distraction and insisting the company needed continuity. By Thursday, two people familiar with the talks said the leave proposal lacked the votes to pass, and negotiations shifted from whether Mullenweg would step aside to how the board itself would change.
Inside the Boardroom Battle
People close to the process describe three days of tense, late-night sessions involving company counsel, major shareholders, and employee representatives.
On one side were backers of the leave plan, who argued Automattic had become too founder-centric and too entangled in lawsuits and public fights to recruit and retain talent. On the other were Mullenweg allies and long-time investors who argued that removing the founder, even temporarily, would destabilize Automattic's commercial products and its stewardship role in the WordPress ecosystem.
The compromise, announced Friday, was governance reform instead of a leadership ouster. Mullenweg remains CEO and chair, but with new checks: a smaller executive committee for major legal and spending decisions, a formal employee feedback channel to the board, and a commitment to publish a transparency update on litigation and restructuring costs.
Who Made the New Board
Automattic confirmed a new five-to-seven person board effective immediately. Mullenweg stays on as chair and CEO.
The company said the new lineup includes two continuing long-term directors trusted by Mullenweg, two new independent directors with backgrounds in open-source governance and media operations, and one non-voting employee observer seat elected by staff to serve a one-year term.
Automattic has not yet released full bios, but said the independents were chosen to bring outside experience in scaling SaaS businesses, handling trust and safety at Tumblr, and navigating nonprofit-for-profit tensions around WordPress.org and the WordPress Foundation. A second employee-aligned seat with full voting rights is still under discussion and could be added after a staff vote in October.
Notably absent are several former insiders who had sided with the leave push. The company framed the departures as voluntary resignations to allow a fresh start, not firings.
What This Means for WordPress.com
For WordPress.com customers, Automattic's message was simple: no interruption.
Leadership said WordPress.com remains its core revenue engine, with continued investment in hosting performance, AI-assisted site building, e-commerce tools for WooCommerce, and enterprise offerings through WordPress VIP. The company also pledged to keep funding its contributions to WordPress Core and to clarify the boundaries between Automattic, WordPress.com, and the open-source WordPress project — a persistent source of confusion during the WP Engine fight.
Developers and agency partners will be watching whether the new board reins in aggressive legal tactics or doubles down. In its statement, Automattic said it would continue to defend its trademarks but wants to lower the temperature and refocus on product releases through the end of the year.
What This Means for Tumblr
Tumblr, long the sentimental favorite inside Automattic, gets a clearer mandate under the reset.
Executives said Tumblr will stay inside Automattic — no sale, no spin-out — and will continue its migration to the shared WordPress infrastructure to cut costs. The new board is expected to approve a dedicated product and trust-and-safety budget for Tumblr through 2027, with a focus on feeds, communities, and creator subscriptions rather than a pivot to pure social video.
Staff on the Tumblr team, who had been vocal about needing stability after years of reorgs, cautiously welcomed the plan but said execution will matter more than board charts.
What Comes Next
Automattic says the next 30 days will be decisive. Expected milestones include formal filing of the new board composition, naming of the interim governance committee, selection of the employee observer, and an all-hands where Mullenweg and the new independents will take questions.
A broader stability memo covering hiring, backfilling key departures, and the 2027 roadmap for WordPress.com, Pressable, WooCommerce, and Tumblr is promised for mid-October.
Whether the truce holds depends on trust. Critics of Mullenweg say they will judge the new board by its independence in practice. Supporters say the failed leave attempt has actually clarified authority and ended weeks of speculation. Either way, Automattic emerges from its board battle smaller at the top, closely watched by the WordPress community, and under pressure to prove it can ship products louder than drama.
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