Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has assembled a new board of directors weeks after the company's previous directors tried and failed to remove him, TechCrunch has learned and Mullenweg confirmed. The board was announced to staff on Friday and includes a best-selling science-fiction author along with two co-founders of IRL, the social app that has since shut down.
The shake-up caps an internal governance fight at Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, Tumblr and WooCommerce. Earlier this month, the prior board voted to place Mullenweg on leave and sought to remove him from the board. He retook control 33 hours later and removed or accepted the resignations of the directors involved.
The failed vote had consequences beyond the boardroom. Member Toni Schneider, a founding CEO of Automattic and now CEO of Bluesky, resigned from his board seat. Mullenweg removed General Ann Dunwoody, and board member Sue Decker also resigned. Mullenweg also let go of Automattic CFO Mark Davies, who had been slated to become interim CEO, and chief legal officer Andy Missan, according to sources.
Mullenweg leveraged his voting shares to replace the board. He controls 84 percent of the vote, he said at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Automattic previously told TechCrunch the period between his departure and return lasted exactly 33 hours and 20 minutes. The board never publicly shared its reasons for trying to oust him.
New advisers have also joined Automattic, including former Woop CTO Jaime Waydo, June co-founder Matt Van Horn and KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah. In the announcement to staff, Mullenweg wrote that for purposes of Delaware law he is the CEO, President, Treasurer and Secretary, and said the attempted firing had brought in many amazing supporters.
In a statement after publication, Mullenweg said the company is living through times of unprecedented change, possibly a singularity, and that the next six months will determine the next 20 years of Automattic. Automattic had said it hoped to have a comment for TechCrunch soon.
Of note, Mullenweg also replaced Automattic's legal counsel after his return, a move that raises questions about whether the boardroom fight is tied to the company's ongoing lawsuit with hosting provider WP Engine over trademark disputes and claims over WP Engine's lack of contribution to the WordPress open source project. WP Engine's legal team had also accused Mullenweg this July of destroying evidence, court filings show. IRL shut down after investigations revealed that nearly all of its user base was made up of bots, and its co-founders, who also included CEO Abraham Shafi, later sued SoftBank and other investors after SoftBank had sued for securities fraud.
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