Matt Mullenweg has returned to his role as CEO of Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, after a board vote removed him earlier in the week. A company spokesperson confirmed his restoration in an email sent shortly after 5 PM ET on Saturday evening. The statement said Mullenweg serves as chairman and CEO of Automattic with the full support of the board. The spokesperson also pointed to public backing from top executives and Automattic employees, an apparent reference to supportive posts on X that Mullenweg has been reposting from his own account.
The board had voted earlier in the week to place Mullenweg on a paid leave of absence for reasons that were not disclosed. The decision appeared to catch Mullenweg by surprise, and he took to Automattic's Slack to accuse board members of conspiring against him. Automattic confirmed the removal to TechCrunch on Wednesday, saying Mullenweg was on leave and that Chief Financial Officer Mark Davies would serve as interim CEO with the board's full confidence.
The board's plan did not proceed as intended, according to multiple sources. Mullenweg appeared to decline to step away, removed other administrators from the company Slack, and told employees that everything had been resolved and that he was back in control of Automattic. In one Slack message he described himself as a pirate and cursed, a characterization he has famously not embraced before, and he asked to be wrangled in by HR if his conduct posed a personnel problem, noting his usual wranglers were with Davies.
Asked whether his claims of being back as CEO were legitimate, Mullenweg said a blog post was coming. The post that followed was about his purchase of a houseboat. Asked again whether his comments about returning were also trolling, he replied that he was not a troll but a pirate. He never issued an official comment on his return, though he noted on X that this was likely the fifth time he had faced a coup attempt.
Automattic did not respond to repeated requests for comment on Friday, nor to reports that board member Toni Schneider had stepped down. Schneider, a founding CEO of Automattic, now leads Bluesky. He did not return requests for comment sent to his personal email or through Bluesky. Automattic was asked again about that matter and about other changes to the board's composition, which are said to still be in flux.
More company and startup news from TechManNews.
