Matt Mullenweg says he is back in control of Automattic, the WordPress.com parent company, just days after the company’s board voted to put him on a paid leave of absence and named CFO Mark Davies interim CEO.
According to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch and confirmed by multiple employee sources, Mullenweg wrote on Friday that the board was 'back in agreement' and that he was '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, because I have huge respect and regard for those involved.'
Earlier in the week, Mullenweg told staff the board members had 'conspired' behind his back. TechCrunch reported that at the time, an Automattic spokesperson confirmed Mullenweg was on leave and Davies was interim CEO. The Verge also reported that Automattic had confirmed Davies’ interim appointment and that Mullenweg was 'currently on leave.'
Automattic has not yet publicly confirmed Mullenweg’s latest claim. TechCrunch said the company had been asked to confirm whether his statement was true, but had not responded to a request for comment. The Verge also reported that Automattic did not immediately reply to its request for comment.
The whiplash does not stop at management titles. TechCrunch reported that Davies’ Slack account was deactivated, and that Mullenweg had removed all Slack admins from the company’s Slack. In a separate message, Mullenweg said, 'I’m not a troll I’m a pirate, obviously.' He also shared a link to LL Cool J’s 'Mama Said Knock You Out.'
Mullenweg has kept up the public theatrics outside Slack, too. 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 another post that he thinks this was his fifth. He also posted, 'Boards are never boring.'
Automattic owns Wordpress.com, Tumblr, and Beeper. The company’s board drama may read like Silicon Valley soap opera, but there is a real governance question underneath all the posturing: who actually controls a private company when the founder, the board, and the interim CEO are all talking past one another? That is not just a personality clash. It is a reminder that boardroom power, once contested, can become a cost center for everyone else working under it.
For users, employees, and investors, the cleanest outcome is not the loudest one. It is clarity. A company that ships products can survive messy personalities; a company that cannot explain who is running it starts to look like it is managed by the chaos itself.
