Automattic board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into paid leave of absence
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Automattic's board has placed founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg on a paid leave of absence against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. Mullenweg stated that CFO Mark Davies conspired with board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker to vote for the leave, with Davies appointed interim CEO. Mullenweg said he received the resolution only 50 minutes before the meeting and was denied time for independent legal review. Automattic confirmed the leave in an emailed statement, expressing full confidence in Davies' leadership. Mary Hubbard, executive director of WordPress.org, clarified that Mullenweg remains leader of the WordPress project and that operations are unaffected. The move follows years of legal battles, including a lawsuit with WP Engine over trademark royalties, and a 2024 incident where 159 employees left after Mullenweg offered severance to those who disagreed with him. The board's specific reasons for the action were not disclosed.
Source report
Image Credit: Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch
By: Julie Bort, Sarah Perez Published: Wed, September 9, 2026 at 4:14 PM PDT Read Time: 4 min
Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic — the parent company of WordPress.com — has been placed on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch.
Earlier Wednesday, Mullenweg posted in a company-wide Slack channel that Chief Financial Officer Mark Davies had "conspired" with board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker to vote him onto a paid leave of absence.
The message read:
And the biggest news: I won't be able to make the [meeting] tomorrow. @Mark Davies has conspired with @Ann Dunwoody, @Toni, and @Sue Decker behind my back and they voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that. Wishing Mark and all of you the very best. To clarify @Mark Davies was voted as interim CEO. I received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting start, and requested repeatedly for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel, even a few hours, which was denied.
A Slack message to the open-source WordPress.org community from Executive Director Mary Hubbard confirmed Mullenweg's change of status at the commercial company. However, Hubbard stated that WordPress.org was not affected.
"Matt remains the leader of the WordPress project and I remain Executive Director of WordPress. Our teams, priorities, and work continue as planned," she wrote.
Mullenweg's Slack message did not specify why the board took this action. Sources told 404 Media, which first reported the news, that Schneider — Automattic's former CEO from 2006 to 2014 — confirmed the board initiated the move. Davies also informed employees in the Slack channel that Mullenweg remains on the board of directors.
In an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Automattic confirmed Mullenweg's leave:
"Matt Mullenweg is currently on leave from Automattic. Mark Davies, Automattic's CFO, will lead the company as interim CEO. The Board has full confidence in Mark's leadership and in the team's ability to execute against the company's priorities."
Background
Automattic, which owns brands including Tumblr, WooCommerce, and Pocket Casts, was founded by Mullenweg in 2003 after he co-created the popular open-source content management system WordPress.
Over the past several years, Mullenweg and the company have been embroiled in lawsuits and controversy:
- Legal battle with WP Engine: Automattic is in a protracted legal dispute with WP Engine, a WordPress web hosting competitor. The lawsuit followed Mullenweg's allegations that WP Engine was profiting from the open-source WordPress project without contributing back to the community. He demanded the company pay 8% of its monthly gross revenue as a royalty fee for using the WordPress brand.
- WP Engine lawsuit (October 2024): WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg, accusing them of defamation and abuse of power.
- Automattic counterclaims: Automattic filed counterclaims last year.
- Additional targets: In February, WP Engine claimed that Automattic intended to target 10 more competitors with royalty claims.
- Employee departures: Tensions escalated under Mullenweg's leadership to the point where he told employees in 2024 to quit with severance if they disagreed with him. 159 employees took that offer.
- Community threats: Last year, Mullenweg also threatened to deactivate the accounts of several members of the open-source WordPress.org community after two of them allegedly said they planned to...
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