Automattic board puts Matt Mullenweg on paid leave

Automattic's board has put founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave and named CFO Mark Davies interim CEO.

Spokesperson Megan Fox confirmed the leave in an emailed statement to The Verge and TechCrunch. Fox said Mullenweg is currently on leave, Davies will lead as interim CEO, and the board has full confidence in Mark's leadership and in the team's ability to execute against the company's priorities.

404 Media reported the leave first. Automattic has not published a public reason or an end date, so "ousted" headlines go further than the company has confirmed. The note is a company email, not a securities filing, and it does not move WordPress.org.

Mullenweg remains on Automattic's board, Davies told employees. In an all-hands Slack, Mullenweg wrote that Davies, Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker voted to put him on paid leave, and that he voted against it.

He said the resolution arrived about 50 minutes before the meeting. Repeated requests for even a few hours of independent counsel review were denied.

WordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard told the community Slack that the commercial leave does not move the open-source project. "Matt remains the leader of the WordPress project and I remain Executive Director of WordPress. Our teams, priorities, and work continue as planned."

The backdrop is Automattic's still-running legal fight with WP Engine. That case is context, not a cause the company has stated.

It is a messy week for software leadership. Adobe just named Anil Chakravarthy CEO, and Automattic's founder is now the one watching from the board.

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