Automattic’s board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into leave of absence
Automattic’s board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into leave of absence
Automattic 董事会强制首席执行官 Matt Mullenweg 休假
Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic, best known as the parent company of WordPress.com, has been put on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. 据 TechCrunch 看到的一条 Slack 消息显示，WordPress.com 母公司 Automattic 的创始人兼首席执行官 Matt Mullenweg 在违背个人意愿的情况下，被公司董事会强制要求休假。
Earlier Wednesday, Mullenweg posted in a Slack channel visible to all employees that the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Mark Davies, had “conspired” with other board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker to vote to put Mullenweg on 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. 周三早些时候，Mullenweg 在一个全体员工可见的 Slack 频道中发帖称，公司首席财务官 Mark Davies 与其他董事会成员 Ann Dunwoody、Toni Schneider 和 Sue Decker “密谋”，投票决定让 Mullenweg 带薪休假。消息写道：“最重大的新闻是：我明天无法参加（会议）了。@Mark Davies 在我背后与 @Ann Dunwoody、@Toni 和 @Sue Decker 密谋，他们投票决定让我带薪休假。我投了反对票。祝 Mark 和大家一切顺利。澄清一下，@Mark Davies 已被投票选为临时首席执行官。我在会议开始前 50 分钟才收到决议，并多次请求给予时间让独立法律顾问进行审查，哪怕只有几个小时，但遭到了拒绝。”
A Slack message to the open-source WordPress.org community from the project’s executive director, Mary Hubbard, also confirmed Mullenweg’s change of status at the commercial company. However, Hubbard said that WordPress.org was not impacted. “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. 该项目执行董事 Mary Hubbard 向开源 WordPress.org 社区发送的一条 Slack 消息也证实了 Mullenweg 在这家商业公司身份的变动。不过，Hubbard 表示 WordPress.org 不受影响。她写道：“Matt 仍然是 WordPress 项目的领导者，我仍然是 WordPress 的执行董事。我们的团队、优先级和工作都按计划进行。”
Mullenweg’s Slack message did not make clear why Automattic’s board took this action. Sources told 404 Media, which was the first to report the news, that Schneider — the former CEO of Automattic from 2006 to 2014 — confirmed that the action was initiated by the board. Davies also told employees in the Slack channel that Mullenweg remained on the board of directors. Mullenweg 的 Slack 消息并未说明 Automattic 董事会采取此行动的原因。据率先报道此消息的 404 Media 称，2006 年至 2014 年担任 Automattic 首席执行官的 Schneider 证实，该行动是由董事会发起的。Davies 也在 Slack 频道中告诉员工，Mullenweg 仍留在董事会中。
In an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Automattic confirmed Mullenweg was on leave. “Matt Mullenweg is currently on leave from Automattic,” the email read. “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.” Automattic 在给 TechCrunch 的电子邮件声明中证实了 Mullenweg 正在休假。邮件写道：“Matt Mullenweg 目前正在从 Automattic 休假。Automattic 首席财务官 Mark Davies 将作为临时首席执行官领导公司。董事会对 Mark 的领导能力以及团队执行公司优先事项的能力充满信心。”
Automattic, which owns other 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 few years, Mullenweg and the company have been mired in lawsuits and controversy. Automattic 旗下还拥有 Tumblr、WooCommerce 和 Pocket Casts 等品牌，由 Mullenweg 于 2003 年在共同创建了流行的开源内容管理系统 WordPress 后创立。在过去几年中，Mullenweg 和该公司一直深陷诉讼和争议之中。
The company is in a protracted legal battle with WP Engine, a WordPress web hosting competitor. The lawsuit followed allegations from Mullenweg that WP Engine was profiting from the open-source WordPress project without contributing back to the community, and he demanded it pay 8% of its monthly gross revenue as a royalty fee for using the WordPress brand. WP Engine sued in October 2024, and accused Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic filed counterclaims last year. 该公司目前正与 WordPress 网络托管竞争对手 WP Engine 进行旷日持久的法律斗争。此前，Mullenweg 指控 WP Engine 从开源 WordPress 项目中获利却未向社区做出贡献，并要求其支付每月总收入的 8% 作为使用 WordPress 品牌的特许权使用费。WP Engine 于 2024 年 10 月提起诉讼，指控 Automattic 和 Mullenweg 诽谤及滥用权力。Automattic 去年提起了反诉。
In February, WP Engine claimed that Automattic intended to target 10 more competitors with royalty claims. Tensions became so high under Mullenweg’s leadership that he told employees in 2024 to quit, with severance, if they disagreed with him and 159 did so. Last year, Mullenweg also threatened to deactivate the accounts of several members of the open-source WordPress.org community, after two of them said they planned to spearhead a new forked version of the open source WordPress project. 今年 2 月，WP Engine 声称 Automattic 打算以特许权使用费索赔为由，针对另外 10 家竞争对手。在 Mullenweg 的领导下，紧张局势加剧，他曾在 2024 年告诉员工，如果不同意他的观点，可以拿遣散费离职，随后有 159 人选择了离职。去年，在两名开源 WordPress.org 社区成员表示计划牵头开发一个新的 WordPress 分支版本后，Mullenweg 还威胁要停用他们的账户。
In April 2025, the company laid off 16% of its staff. The cuts included some longtime employees who had been with the company for more than a decade, sources told TechCrunch. Some alumni have been asking current employees how they feel about the news, a source told TechCrunch. Some employees said they were “ecstatic” or “relieved” but others had mixed emotions because the move creates more instability. 2025 年 4 月，该公司裁员 16%。据 TechCrunch 消息来源称，裁员名单中包括一些在公司工作了十多年的老员工。一位消息人士告诉 TechCrunch，一些离职员工一直在询问在职员工对这一消息的看法。一些员工表示感到“欣喜若狂”或“如释重负”，但也有人心情复杂，因为此举带来了更多的不稳定性。
It isn’t clear why the company’s board made this decision now. One person speculated that the timing may have something to do with Mullenweg’s annual trip to the Burning Man festival, after which he tends to return “with ideas.” This year’s festival ended on September 7. Mullenweg did not immediately respond to our request for comment. 目前尚不清楚公司董事会为何在此时做出这一决定。有人推测，这一时机可能与 Mullenweg 每年参加“火人节”（Burning Man）有关，他通常在参加完该活动后会“带着新想法”回归。今年的火人节于 9 月 7 日结束。Mullenweg 没有立即回应我们的置评请求。