Matt Mullenweg says he is back in charge of Automattic, the WordPress.com parent company, after the board moved to put him on paid leave of absence earlier this week.
In a Slack message seen by TechCrunch and confirmed by multiple employee sources, Mullenweg told staff: '(Don’t call it a comeback…) Howdy everybody! Happy to announce the board is back in agreement, and I’m in control of Automattic.' He added that 'A lot happened in the past 48 hours that we need to sort out, and I hope much of it was a misunderstanding.'
The move comes only days after Automattic’s board voted to oust Mullenweg as CEO for unknown reasons, and named chief financial officer Mark Davies as interim CEO. An Automattic spokesperson previously confirmed that Mullenweg was on leave and that Davies was interim CEO.
TechCrunch also reported that Davies’ Slack account was deactivated, and that Mullenweg had removed all Slack admins from the company’s Slack workspace. Automattic had not confirmed Mullenweg’s latest claim as of Friday, and did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Verge.
Mullenweg has kept posting publicly as the fight plays out. On X, he wrote, 'If you don’t have a coup attempt every few years, you’re not hiring strong enough leaders,' and added in a separate post, 'I think this was my fifth.' He also posted that 'Boards are never boring.'
For founders, the lesson is simple: governance is not a side issue. When control of a company becomes public, the real cost is distraction, uncertainty, and a management vacuum that can hit customers, employees, and margins all at once. The boardroom may think in votes; the business still has to think in execution.
This is also a reminder that founder control cuts both ways. It can protect speed and vision, but it can also make succession and oversight messy when the break comes. Investors and employees do not get runway back once confidence is lost. In a company like Automattic, the next move is not just about who signs as CEO. It is about whether the operating structure can survive the fight.
