Markets & Business
Automattic loses its interim CFO weeks after boardroom shakeup
Automattic's interim chief financial officer, Jeremy Klaperman, has left the role after less than a month, with sources telling TechCrunch he had been demoted back to his prior job.
Jeremy Klaperman, the interim chief financial officer of WordPress.com parent company Automattic, has left his position after less than a month, TechCrunch has learned. Klaperman had been elevated to the job last month following a governance crisis at the company that saw its entire board either quit or get fired. Automattic confirmed the departure in a statement shared by the company’s director of communications, Megan Fox: “Automattic will always be grateful for Jeremy Klaperman’s leadership. We wish him the best of luck on his next endeavor.”
Before taking the interim finance-chief role, Klaperman had served as CFO of Automattic’s VIP Enterprise business unit. He replaced Mark Davies, who had briefly become Automattic’s CFO after the company’s board voted in September to put CEO Matt Mullenweg on leave. Within 33 hours of that decision, Mullenweg retook the CEO role and the board was wiped clean. Automattic’s chief legal officer, Andy Missan, also left the company alongside Davies; both executives had signed reciprocal severance deals during Mullenweg’s brief leave of absence, TechCrunch previously reported.
Automattic’s new board of directors was announced in late September. It includes best-selling science-fiction author Hugh Howey; Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai, two co-founders of the now-defunct social app IRL; and author Amy Chan.
It’s unclear why Klaperman chose to leave Automattic, but sources told TechCrunch that the decision came after he was demoted back to his original role at VIP. As interim CFO, he could have been replaced by a permanent hire, but nothing on that front has yet been announced. Automattic’s spokesperson did not comment on the reason for Klaperman’s departure. When Mullenweg originally announced Klaperman’s new role on Automattic’s Slack, he reiterated that he had “100% confidence” in the company’s cash and financial position.
Why it matters
A second finance-chief exit within weeks, on top of an already-public board crisis, keeps the question of Automattic’s financial stability and governance in front of employees, partners, and customers rather than letting the company move past it.