Matt Mullenweg, WordPress founder and Automattic’s chief executive, said he had taken back control of the company less than 48 hours after the board voted to suspend him. On Sept. 12, Automattic formally said he is still chairman and CEO.
Mullenweg announced his return in Slack
Early Friday, Sept. 11, Mullenweg wrote in Automattic’s internal Slack: “Hi everyone! I’m happy to announce that the board has reached a consensus, and I have regained control of Automattic. A lot has happened in the past 48 hours that still needs to be clarified. I hope most of it was just a misunderstanding, because I have a great deal of respect for everyone involved.”
The following day, at about 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, Sept. 12, an Automattic spokesperson said in an email: “Matt Mullenweg is Automattic’s chairman and CEO, with the board’s full support.”
It was a whiplash turn. In just days, Mullenweg went from being sidelined by his own board to saying in public that he was running the company again.
Board had put him on paid leave on Sept. 9
The fight started on Wednesday, Sept. 9, when Automattic’s board voted to place Mullenweg, the company’s co-founder and CEO, on paid leave. Chief financial officer Mark Davies was then named interim CEO.
After that, Mullenweg said the directors who supported the move had been scheming behind his back. In his telling, it was the fifth time he had gone through what he called a “coup.” He gave no hint the situation had changed until his Sept. 11 Slack message.
Reason for the removal is still unclear
In the days after his removal, Mullenweg replied on Reddit to a post about the 404 Media report that first revealed the episode. He wrote, ���Hey y’all, I’m here, all good,” then later pushed back on online rumors about the company, saying commenters did not understand what was going on.
He also wrote on X that the situation was not what outsiders thought they were seeing. In another post, he openly asked system administrators and security researchers to help transfer personal data he had stored on Automattic servers, even while saying he backed Davies serving as CEO at that moment.
On the afternoon of Sept. 11, WordPress.org Executive Director Mary Hubbard said on X that she was relieved to see Mullenweg return as Automattic CEO.
Still, Automattic’s full statement left the main question hanging: why the board tried to remove Mullenweg in the first place. Before the reversal, the board had said only that it had confidence in Mark’s leadership. Nothing more detailed has been released publicly.
Silver Lake claim remains unverified
The wildest claim in the dispute — and the one with the least backing — came from Mullenweg himself. On Reddit and X, he suggested private equity firm Silver Lake was part of a plan to “destroy” his life.
Silver Lake is the majority shareholder in WP Engine, which is in litigation with Mullenweg and Automattic. The report said, though, that this claim remains Mullenweg’s account alone and has not been independently verified.
Questions remain over Davies and board composition
There is still no formal update on interim CEO Mark Davies. His Slack account was reportedly disabled. But the company has not officially said he is no longer in the role.
Separately, reports say Toni Schneider, now CEO of Bluesky and formerly an Automattic director, has resigned from the board. That report has not been confirmed.
So yes, Mullenweg’s return seems to close the immediate leadership clash. But the makeup of the board — and the company’s internal power balance — may still be moving behind the curtain.
Governance concerns remain in focus
Automattic runs products including WordPress.com, Tumblr and WooCommerce, which gives the company an outsized position in the wider content management system world used by huge numbers of websites around the globe.
The report argued that the board was able to vote to suspend the founder without warning, then swing back within days based on a “consensus,” all without any public explanation from either side. For developers and business users who rely on the WordPress open-source world, that does not provide much clarity.
And with the WP Engine lawsuit still active, the Silver Lake accusation still unresolved, and possible board changes still hovering over the company, this fight may not be finished. Mullenweg’s return may calm Automattic’s public image for now. The board’s original reasoning, though, is still not public.