Automattic board sidelines Matt Mullenweg, installs CFO as interim CEO

Automattic’s board has placed founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave against his wishes, elevating CFO Mark Davies to interim chief executive. Mullenweg broke the news himself in a company-wide Slack channel, alleging that Davies had coordinated with board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker to push the vote through. He says he received the resolution just 50 minutes before the meeting and was denied even a few hours to have independent counsel review it. He remains on the board, and the company confirmed the leave in a statement expressing ‘full confidence’ in Davies.

The shake-up hits the commercial parent of WordPress.com, Tumblr, WooCommerce, and Pocket Casts, but not the open-source project itself: WordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard said Mullenweg stays on as project leader and that operations there continue unchanged. The board has not publicly explained its reasoning or the timing, though one source floated a half-joking theory tied to Mullenweg’s habit of returning from Burning Man with disruptive new ideas.

The move caps roughly two years of turmoil under Mullenweg. Automattic is locked in a bruising legal fight with hosting rival WP Engine, which sued in October 2024 for defamation and abuse of power after Mullenweg demanded an 8% revenue royalty and publicly attacked the company; WP Engine later claimed Automattic planned to target ten more competitors. Internally, 159 employees took a buyout in 2024 after Mullenweg invited dissenters to quit, he threatened to deactivate community members who floated a WordPress fork, and the company cut 16% of staff in April 2025. Employee reaction to his removal reportedly ranges from relief to unease over the fresh instability.