Matt Mullenweg on Leave at Automattic | Tech News

0:00On September 9th, so word on the street is Matt Mullinweg, the dude who started automatic, the company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr, and a few other. Big names has been put on a leave of absence, and get this, it wasn't his idea. He put out a message saying the CFO and some board members voted to put him on paid leave and he voted against it. Mark Davies, the CFO, is stepping in as interim CEO. This whole situation is pretty wild, especially considering Mullinweg founded the company back in 2003. It's a big shake up for a company that's been around for a while and has a massive footprint in the online world. The WordPress.org project itself, the open source side of things, says its business as usual and Matt is still leading that. Now automatic has had it share of drama lately. There's been a big legal fight with the competitor, WP Engine, going back and forth over accusations of profiting from WordPress without contributing. Plus, Mullinweg himself has been in the headlines for some controversial decisions, like telling

1:02employees to quit if they disagreed with him, and even threatening to deactivate accounts in the open source community. The exact reasons for this board decision aren't crystal clear yet. Some folks are speculating about the timing, maybe related to his recent trip to Burning Man. What is confirmed is that Mark Davies is now at the helm as interim CEO, and the board says they have full confidence in him and the team to keep. Things moving forward with the company's goals. Automatic, which also owns brands like WooCommerce and PocketCast, is a huge player. This leave of absence for its founder is definitely a major development, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out for the company and its. Various platforms moving forward. Tech News. Today, powered by AI bringing you what matters in tech. I'm Corey with the story.