Automattic's board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into leave of absence

Matt Mullenweg, founder and CEO of Automattic — the parent company of WordPress.com — has been put on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. Mullenweg posted in a company-wide Slack channel Wednesday, writing: “I won’t be able to make the [meeting] tomorrow. Mark Davies has conspired with Ann Dunwoody, Toni, and Sue Decker behind my back and they voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that. Wishing Mark and all of you the very best. To clarify, Mark Davies was voted as interim CEO. I received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting start, and requested repeatedly for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel, even a few hours, which was denied.”

In an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Automattic confirmed Mullenweg was on leave and said Davies, the company’s CFO, would lead as interim CEO, with the board expressing confidence in his leadership. Mary Hubbard, executive director of the open source WordPress.org project, told the community that Mullenweg remains the leader of the WordPress project and that WordPress.org itself was not affected by the change. Mullenweg’s message didn’t explain why the board took the action; sources told 404 Media, which first reported the news, that Schneider — Automattic’s CEO from 2006 to 2014 — confirmed the board initiated it. Davies also told employees that Mullenweg remains on the board of directors.

Automattic, which Mullenweg founded in 2003 after co-creating the open source WordPress project, has been mired in controversy in recent years, including a legal battle with hosting rival WP Engine, which it accused of profiting from open source WordPress without contributing back — Mullenweg had demanded WP Engine pay 8% of its monthly gross revenue as a royalty. WP Engine sued in October 2024, accusing Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power, and Automattic filed counterclaims last year. Mullenweg’s tenure has also included a 2024 offer of severance to employees who disagreed with him, which 159 people accepted, and an April 2025 layoff of 16% of staff.

It isn’t clear why the board acted now; one person speculated the timing may relate to Mullenweg’s annual trip to Burning Man, which ended September 7. Mullenweg said in a series of X posts Wednesday evening that he believed there was a good chance a judge could find he destroyed evidence in the WP Engine case in bad faith — an allegation he denied — and that he expected to face smear attempts. Mullenweg did not respond to a request for comment.

Why it matters

A public, board-forced leave for the founder-CEO of a major open source software company puts WordPress’s governance — and its high-stakes legal fight with WP Engine — squarely in the spotlight, at a moment when trust in Automattic’s leadership was already strained.