The news
Automattic’s board voted to place CEO Matt Mullenweg on a paid leave of absence. Mullenweg disclosed the decision in a company-wide Slack message viewed by multiple outlets. He stated that the vote passed over his objection and named chief financial officer Mark Davies as the person who had “conspired” with three board members to bring it about.
The board members identified in the message are Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker. Mullenweg, who has led Automattic since 2014, wrote that he voted against the action. The company owns WordPress.com and maintains close ties to the independent WordPress.org project that Mullenweg co-founded.
Context
Mullenweg has served as Automattic’s chief executive for more than a decade. During that period the company grew from a small WordPress-focused operation into a larger commercial entity that runs the hosted WordPress.com service and related products. The board’s action marks the first public report of an internal leadership dispute at the firm.
Mullenweg also maintains a separate role in the open-source WordPress.org community. That project operates independently of Automattic, yet the two entities share personnel and infrastructure in ways that have drawn scrutiny in the past. The leave of absence does not immediately alter Mullenweg’s status with WordPress.org.
Details
The Slack message, dated Wednesday and circulated internally, described the vote as unexpected. Mullenweg wrote that Davies had worked with the three named directors to secure the outcome. He characterized the move as one taken without his consent and stated that he opposed it during the meeting.
Reporting from 404 Media, TechCrunch, and The Verge all cite the same internal message and the same list of participants. No public statement from Automattic or from the board members has been issued. The company has not disclosed whether the leave is temporary or what succession arrangements, if any, have been made for day-to-day operations.
Mullenweg’s 2024 public campaign against a prominent WordPress contributor is referenced in coverage but remains outside the scope of the current board action. The sources provide no further information on that earlier episode or on any connection to the present decision.
Why it matters
The board’s move removes the sitting chief executive of a major commercial open-source company at a time when WordPress powers a large share of websites worldwide. Automattic’s products and the separate WordPress.org project both depend on coordinated leadership; any prolonged uncertainty at the top affects plugin developers, hosting partners, and enterprise customers who rely on the platform’s stability.
For employees and contributors, the public disclosure of internal board maneuvering signals that governance questions now sit in the open. The named directors and the CFO will face questions about the process and the company’s next steps. Mullenweg’s continued involvement with WordPress.org adds another layer of complexity, because decisions at Automattic can still influence the broader ecosystem even while he is on leave.
The episode shows that even long-tenured founders at venture-backed open-source companies remain subject to board oversight when directors choose to exercise it.
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