Automattic Board Departs Following Failed Effort to Oust CEO Matt Mullenweg
Automattic's board of directors is out, multiple sources have confirmed to TechCrunch, following last week's attempt to oust CEO Matt Mullenweg by voting to place him on a paid leave of absence.
After the vote, Mullenweg β the WordPress founder and CEO of WordPress.com parent company Automattic β accused the board of conspiring against him in a post on Automattic's Slack. On Friday, TechCrunch exclusively reported that Mullenweg told company staff he was back in control of the company, also via a Slack post. Automattic confirmed to TechCrunch on Saturday that he had returned.
Board Members Depart
Initially, sources told TechCrunch that Toni Schneider, a founding CEO at Automattic who now leads the open social network Bluesky, had resigned his Automattic board seat. Schneider has since removed a paragraph from his personal website's bio page that had noted his contributions at Automattic.
Previously, Schneider's website read: "I also contribute actively at Automattic, the open source company behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce. I was Automattic's founding CEO and continue to support internal projects and investments as a board member and special advisor."
TechCrunch has also heard that Mullenweg removed the two other board members, Sue Decker and Gen. Ann Dunwoody.
Decker's LinkedIn bio has been updated to confirm that she served on Automattic's board from March 2020 through September 2026, despite her name still appearing on Automattic's Board of Directors page at the time of publication.
Image Credits: LinkedIn screenshot
When asked by TechCrunch about the board changes, Automattic declined to provide specifics but offered a statement acknowledg... [truncated]
via TechCrunch