Automattic has put Matt Mullenweg on paid leave and appointed chief financial officer Mark Davies as interim CEO. But the change at the company behind WordPress.com leaves Mullenweg leading the wider WordPress project. 404 Media first reported the board’s decision on September 9.
WordPress executive director Mary Hubbard moved to clarify that distinction after the news broke. She said the project’s leadership and direction were unchanged.
“Matt continues to lead our project, and I remain Executive Director,” Hubbard wrote.
For businesses running WordPress websites, that means the leadership change has a narrower reach than it might initially appear.
Automattic operates WordPress.com and products including WooCommerce and Jetpack. WordPress itself is open-source software maintained by a community of contributors, including Automattic employees. Businesses can run it through other hosting providers without becoming WordPress.com customers.
Appointing a new Automattic CEO therefore does not automatically replace the person leading the software project.
The practical significance of that separation became clear during Mullenweg’s dispute with hosting company WP Engine in 2024.
In a September 25 announcement on WordPress.org, Mullenweg said WP Engine’s servers would lose free access to its resources. He explicitly listed update servers, the plugin directory and the theme directory among the services WP Engine would need to provide itself.
The dispute brought decisions about shared WordPress infrastructure directly into a conflict involving a commercial hosting provider. WP Engine later obtained a preliminary injunction, as The Verge reported.
Hubbard’s statement indicates that the current boardroom change has not brought a corresponding change in WordPress project leadership.
Mullenweg also retains a role inside Automattic. According to 404 Media’s reporting on internal staff messages, Davies said the founder would remain on the board and participate in decisions.
Mullenweg told employees he opposed being put on leave and had received the resolution only 50 minutes before the meeting. He alleged that Davies and board members had coordinated behind his back. Automattic confirmed the leave and interim appointment to the publication, saying the board backed Davies. Its statement did not give a reason for the decision.
For publishers and agencies, the question now is whether Davies changes Automattic’s relationship with the wider WordPress community. A different approach from the company could matter to businesses using its hosting and plugins, while the open-source project continues under Mullenweg’s leadership.
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Source:: searchenginewatch.com