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159 Automattic employees exit over disagreement with CEO Mullenweg

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About 159 Automattic employees — approximately 8.4% of its workforce — depart after accepting a severance package. The package was extended to staff who disagreed with CEO Matt Mullenweg’s vision for WordPress and his handling of an ongoing conflict with web hosting provider WP Engine.

Mullenweg explained that the severance package offered employees a salary of $30,000 or six months, whichever was higher. He also said those who took the offer are ineligible for rehire at Automattic.

According to Mullenweg, nearly 80% of those accepted the offer were part of Automattic’s WordPress Ecosystem division. The remaining employees worked within the company’s Cosmos business, which include popular apps like Pocket Casts, Day One, Tumblr, and Cloudup.

Mullenweg sought to cast the departures in a positive light, describing the severance package as an “Alignment Offer” designed to be as generous as possible.

“HR added some extra details to sweeten the deal; we wanted to make it as enticing as possible,” Mullenweg wrote, emphasising that despite the exits, over 91% of employees remained, effectively forgoing a combined $126 million in potential severance.

Photo: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com
The dispute between Automattic and WP Engine over the WordPress trademark has now reached the courts. | Photo: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com

The exits come during a tense standoff between Automattic and WP Engine. Mullenweg has openly criticised WP Engine, labelling, it a “cancer to WordPress” and accusing the company of misusing WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.

In response, Automattic has barred WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources, intensifying the conflict.

The dispute escalated on Thursday when WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Automattic and Mullenweg, accusing them of extortion, abuse of power, and conflicts of interest in managing the open-source WordPress project.

Automattic firmly denied these accusations, with its legal representatives describing WP Engine’s lawsuit as “meritless.”

Despite the legal battle, some Automattic employees have publicly voiced their support for Mullenweg, reports TechCrunch, posting messages online reaffirming their loyalty to the company and its leadership.

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Kumar Hemant

Kumar Hemant

Deputy Editor at Candid.Technology. Hemant writes at the intersection of tech and culture and has a keen interest in science, social issues and international relations. You can contact him here: kumarhemant@pm.me

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