Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Automattic and WordPress.com, has informed employees through Slack that he is back in control as CEO following a recent board decision to place him on paid leave. This message comes days after the board voted to remove him from his position for undisclosed reasons. At that time, Automattic confirmed that CFO Mark Davies was appointed interim CEO.
In a Slack message early Friday, Mullenweg stated that the board had reached an agreement and that he had resumed leadership of the company. He acknowledged that recent events were confusing and expressed hope that misunderstandings had occurred. Despite this announcement, Automattic has not publicly confirmed the change, and Davies’ Slack account appears to have been deactivated.
The situation is further complicated by reports that Mullenweg removed all Slack administrators and made unusual posts, including one with strong language uncharacteristic of him. Mullenweg has also been active on social media, disputing speculation about the impact of his removal on the open source community and suggesting external parties, including private equity firm Silver Lake, may have influenced the board’s decision.
As of now, the company has not provided an official statement regarding the leadership status, and the circumstances surrounding the board’s initial decision and subsequent reversal remain unclear. This ongoing leadership dispute at Automattic is significant given the company’s role in supporting WordPress, a major platform powering a large portion of the web.