Matt Mullenweg reportedly returns as Automattic CEO two days after getting booted

Matt Mullenweg told staff in a Slack message, seen by TechCrunch, that he has been reinstated as CEO of Automattic two days after saying the board had placed him on a paid leave of absence. In his message, Mullenweg said the board is “back in agreement” and that he is “in control of Automattic.”

Earlier reporting from 404 Media and posts Mullenweg shared in Slack described a different sequence: Mullenweg said CFO Mark Davies had “conspired” with the board to vote to put him on leave, and that the board voted to make Davies interim CEO. According to those accounts, Mullenweg said he had voted against the leave; Davies separately posted that Mullenweg would remain a board member.

An Automattic spokesperson had told The Verge that Mullenweg was “currently on leave” and confirmed Davies’ interim role. In the later message reviewed by TechCrunch, Mullenweg acknowledged that “a lot happened in the past 48 hours” that needs to be sorted out and said he hoped much of it was a misunderstanding. TechCrunch also reported that Davies’ Slack account had been deactivated and that Mullenweg removed all admins from Automattic’s Slack workspace.

Automattic, the parent company of platforms including WordPress.com, Tumblr, and Beeper, did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment. Mullenweg also made public posts on X, writing “If you don’t have a coup attempt every few years, you’re not hiring strong enough leaders,” and published a blog post titled “Major Life Announcement” about making an offer to buy a houseboat. Reporting on the episode was updated to include 404 Media’s coverage on September 11.