WordPress Co-Founder Matt Mullenweg Ousted As CEO Of Automattic

Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and longtime CEO of Automattic, has been removed from his leadership role and placed on paid leave by the company's board of directors with just 50 minutes' notice.

The move marks a dramatic turning point for one of the most influential figures in the open-source web publishing world. Mullenweg's departure arrives amid a turbulent legal battle with WP Engine and growing concerns about WordPress's declining market position — raising urgent questions about the future of a platform that powers a significant portion of the internet.

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The Board's Decision and What Comes Next

Automattic's board of directors voted to remove Mullenweg and install Chief Financial Officer Mark Davies as interim CEO. In an official statement the company said: "Matt Mullenweg is currently on leave from Automattic. Mark Davies, Automattic's CFO, will lead the company as interim CEO. The Board has full confidence in Mark's leadership and in the team's ability to execute against the company's priorities."

Mullenweg disclosed that he received notice of the board resolution only 50 minutes before the meeting. He also revealed that his request for independent legal review of the decision was denied. In an internal Slack message he wrote: "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."

Mullenweg publicly accused Automattic's CFO of conspiring with the board against him. Despite that accusation he later posted on social media that he "fully supports" Davies in his interim CEO role — a statement that struck many observers as awkward given the circumstances.

WordPress Leadership: Continuity or Confusion?

Mary Hubbard, Executive Director of WordPress, moved quickly to reassure the open-source community. She tweeted: "Following reports of Matt's role change at Automattic, I want to assure you that WordPress leadership and direction remain unchanged. Matt continues to lead our project, and I remain Executive Director. I'm grateful to everyone making this possible as we keep building together."

That statement effectively confirms a dual-power structure — one in which Mullenweg retains control of the WordPress open-source project while Davies leads Automattic as a commercial entity. Whether this arrangement can function without friction, particularly given the acrimony surrounding Mullenweg's removal, is one of the most consequential open questions facing the WordPress ecosystem right now.

This kind of leadership split is not without precedent in the open-source world, but it rarely produces clarity. Developers, plugin authors, and businesses that depend on WordPress infrastructure would be wise to monitor how decision-making authority is divided in practice — not just in public statements.

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Legal Trouble and the WP Engine Fallout

Mullenweg's removal cannot be separated from the ongoing legal dispute between Automattic and WP Engine. Automattic faces a lawsuit from WP Engine that stems directly from Mullenweg's actions during what he himself described as a "nuclear" conflict with the managed WordPress hosting company. Adding to the pressure is a motion for sanctions accusing Mullenweg of destroying or failing to preserve evidence.

The Evidence Preservation Controversy

Jonathan Robins, Automattic's e-discovery vendor, reportedly claimed that Mullenweg's laptop and a phone were unaccounted for and were never imaged. Mullenweg addressed the allegations directly on social media writing: "Even though I have said this UNDER OATH AND PENALTY OF PERJURY over and over and over, the very-good-at-being-very-bad lawyers at Quinn Emanuel have blown this so out of proportion — that they have a pretty good chance of getting a judge to say I spoiled evidence in a malicious way trying to hide something."

He added a defense that reflected his identity as a builder of publishing tools: "Which is extra funny if you actually know me, because I WRITE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO SAVE EVERYTHING."

For context on why content management infrastructure matters so fundamentally to how digital businesses operate, it's worth understanding the core benefits of using a content management system — the very category of software Mullenweg built his identity and career around.

The Signal Messages Admission

Mullenweg further revealed that he had previously encouraged people to use Signal with disappearing messages when sending him information from inside companies — a practice he acknowledged was legally problematic given an existing preservation order. He described it as an attempt to "cosplay like a journalist" and set up a tip line in the manner of his late friend Om Malik. He conceded: "It's actually against the law to have disappearing messages when you have a preservation order."

This admission is significant. Regardless of intent, operating under a preservation order while using disappearing messages is precisely the kind of digital communication misstep that courts treat seriously. For anyone engaged in a legal dispute, Mullenweg's public acknowledgement serves as a sharp reminder that digital communication practices carry real legal consequences.

Shortly after his removal was announced, Mullenweg also posted that he intends to move personal data and assets currently hosted on Automattic infrastructure to other servers and said he was seeking to hire sysadmin and security researchers — specifying "no one from Automattic."

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WordPress Faces a Broader Reckoning

Declining Market Share and Community Strain

Beyond the boardroom drama, the WordPress ecosystem is showing measurable signs of strain. WordPress has experienced declining market share among content management systems. Attendance at WordCamp — the WordPress community's flagship conference series — has steadily fallen. Plugin developers across the ecosystem report shrinking paid user bases and an uptick in vulnerability discoveries, trends that observers attribute in part to the disruption caused by the WP Engine dispute and the accelerating impact of AI on the broader web software industry.

The vulnerability trend is worth taking seriously. As instability ripples through the ecosystem, site owners face elevated risk from unpatched or abandoned plugins. Those running WordPress-powered sites should be actively reviewing their security posture — understanding the foundations of securing a WordPress website against common threats is an important step for any business relying on the platform.

The Challenge Facing Mark Davies

The confluence of legal exposure, leadership instability, and market erosion presents Mark Davies with a steep challenge as he steps into the interim CEO role. Whether Davies can stabilize the company while Mullenweg retains control of the WordPress open-source project itself — a dual-power structure that Hubbard's statement appears to confirm — remains an open question.

Mullenweg's departure echoes a recurring theme in tech history where founders clash with boards over strategy and control. The parallel to the Steve Jobs–Apple breakup of 1985 is difficult to ignore, though the legal dimensions here add a considerably more complicated layer to an already fraught situation.

What This Means for Businesses Running WordPress

For businesses that have built their digital operations on WordPress, the current period of uncertainty warrants a closer look at platform dependency. This is particularly relevant for companies that rely on Automattic-hosted services or the broader plugin ecosystem for critical functions — including customer relationship management. Evaluating the available WordPress CRM plugins for managing customer relationships is one area where businesses should confirm continued support and development activity given the shifting landscape.

WordPress site owners and developers should monitor whether the leadership change affects product roadmaps or plugin ecosystem support. Businesses relying on WordPress infrastructure may want to assess their dependency on Automattic-hosted services given the uncertainty. The situation remains fluid, and WordPress.org continues to serve as the primary reference point for official updates from the open-source project itself.