Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has rebuilt the company’s board just weeks after its previous directors tried, and failed, to oust him. The board is an eclectic group that includes a best-selling science fiction author and two co-founders of the now-defunct social app IRL, TechCrunch has learned.
The new board is the latest twist in an internal governance fight at Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, Tumblr, WooCommerce, and others. Earlier this month, the previous board voted to place Mullenweg on leave in an attempt to remove him from the board, only to have the CEO retake control just 33 hours later and remove or accept the resignations of the directors who were involved.
He’s informing Automattic workers of the board changes via the company’s announcements channel in Slack.
Sources told TechCrunch the new Automattic board includes:.
The co-founders later sued SoftBank and other investors after SoftBank had sued for securities fraud.
Automattic’s original board had voted to put Mullenweg on paid leave, but he took back control of the company, letting go of those involved in what he described on X as a “coup attempt.”
To replace the board, Mullenweg leveraged his voting shares — he controls 84% of the vote, he said at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. The period between his departure and return lasted exactly “33 hours and 20 minutes,” Automattic told TechCrunch before.
Following the failed board vote, member Toni Schneider, a founding CEO of Automattic and now CEO of Bluesky, resigned from his board position. Mullenweg let go of Automattic CFO Mark Davies and Chief Legal Officer Andy Missan, TechCrunch confirmed with sources.