--- title: Automattic's board ousted Mullenweg as CEO, then... description: Automattic's board voted to oust founder Matt Mullenweg as CEO and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim chief, but Mullenweg refused to accept the decision,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Automattic's board ousted Mullenweg as CEO, then reversed course within 33 hours | daily.dev og:description: Automattic's board voted to oust founder Matt Mullenweg as CEO and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim chief, but Mullenweg refused to accept the decision,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/X26fKweH2.png og:image:alt: Automattic's board ousted Mullenweg as CEO, then reversed course within 33 hours og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Automattic's board ousted Mullenweg as CEO, then reversed course within 33 hours **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 3 min read · 3 upvotes · 3 comments ## Summary Automattic's board voted to oust founder Matt Mullenweg as CEO and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim chief, but Mullenweg refused to accept the decision, locked other admins out of company systems, and was reinstated within about 33 hours. The board members who removed him have since departed or been removed: Toni Schneider resigned, and Mullenweg removed Sue Decker and Ann Dunwoody. The saga unfolds amid Automattic's ongoing lawsuit with WP Engine and recent mass layoffs, with WordPress.org insisting the open source project itself remains unaffected. ## Content ## What happened On September 10, Automattic's board voted to place founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave against his will, installing CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO. Thirty-three hours and twenty minutes later, Mullenweg was back. The company has not explained either decision. Multiple sources say Mullenweg never accepted the ouster. He removed other Slack admins, deactivated Davies's account access, and posted erratically on Reddit, X, and internal Slack — calling it the fifth "coup" he'd faced, hinting at Silver Lake (WP Engine's majority owner) being behind an effort to "destroy" his life, and at one point making pirate references. WordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard publicly backed his return before Automattic issued any official statement. When Automattic finally confirmed the reversal, communications director Megan Fox said Mullenweg had the board's "full support." Mullenweg himself described the episode as a "misunderstanding" in internal messages. ## The board is now largely gone The board that voted to remove him appears to have dissolved in the aftermath. Founding board member Toni Schneider — now CEO of Bluesky — resigned. Mullenweg reportedly removed the two remaining members, Sue Decker and Ann Dunwoody. Automattic declined to confirm specifics but acknowledged departures. An announcement about a new board is expected, with Stephen Wolfram remaining as a special advisor ahead of a September 23 board meeting. ## The severance problem While Mullenweg was out, Davies and Chief Legal Officer Andy Missan signed each other's severance agreements — effective September 10, the same day as the ouster. The deals grant each executive 12 months of salary, accelerated equity vesting, stock option exercise rights, and a year of health coverage. Combined liability: $8.15 million, now that Mullenweg fired both upon returning. The agreements define "cause" narrowly and include favorable procedural protections for the executives. The optics are rough: two executives, during a 33-hour window of uncertain authority, locking in golden parachutes before the situation resolved. ## What comes next Automattic has named Jeremy Klaperman, CFO of its WordPress VIP Enterprise unit, as interim CFO. Mullenweg says a verbal offer has gone out for a new Chief Legal Officer. All of this is unfolding while Automattic is already in active litigation with WP Engine over WordPress trademark and contribution disputes — litigation that includes claims Mullenweg destroyed evidence and previously deactivated contributor accounts over a fork attempt. Analysts have drawn comparisons to other boomerang CEO returns: Sam Altman at OpenAI, Steve Jobs at Apple, Jack Dorsey at Twitter. Those situations at least came with some explanation. Here, employees are left with two years of destabilizing leadership, a board that no longer exists, and a company statement that amounts to: he was gone 33 hours, now he's back, full support. What actually happened in that boardroom — and why the vote reversed so quickly — remains unexplained. ## Questions this post answers ### Why was Matt Mullenweg briefly removed as Automattic CEO and then reinstated? Automattic's board voted to place Mullenweg on paid leave and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO, but reversed the decision about 33 hours and 20 minutes later, reinstating Mullenweg as chairman and CEO with the board's 'full support.' Neither Automattic nor Mullenweg has explained why the board acted or why it reversed course, with Mullenweg internally calling it a 'misunderstanding.' _Follow how leadership upheaval at companies like Automattic can ripple into the open source projects developers depend on, tracked on daily.dev._ ### What happened to Automattic's board after Matt Mullenweg was reinstated as CEO? Founding board member Toni Schneider, who is also CEO of Bluesky, reportedly resigned, and Mullenweg then removed the two remaining board members, Sue Decker and Ann Dunwoody. This effectively dissolved Automattic's board, with an announcement about a new board expected but no timeline given. _Developers weighing how much a company's governance stability matters can track fallout like this on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@zx8086** · 2 upvotes > This guy is the biggest Tech Bro Baby there is, FFS nobody likes you ! **@carsonstricker** · 1 upvotes > Am I missing something here, or is this just giving severe tyrannical leader vibes? Gets voted out and basically kicks out everyone who was "conspiring" against him? His note about WP Engine as well. It looks to me like he's completely lost it. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Automattic loses its interim CFO just weeks after boardroom shakeup](https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-loses-its-interim-cfo-just-weeks-after-boardroom-shakeup-1qq8yxzz9) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Automattic CEO calls Tumblr his ‘biggest failure’ so far](https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-ceo-calls-tumblr-his-biggest-failure-so-far-maxxg0ey5) · TechCrunch · 10 upvotes · 3 comments --- Tags: [#wordpress](https://daily.dev/tags/wordpress) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Automattic's board ousted Mullenweg as CEO, then reversed course within 33 hours","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2"},"datePublished":"2026-09-14T15:36:05.148Z","dateModified":"2026-09-18T20:29:48.727Z","description":"Automattic's board voted to oust founder Matt Mullenweg as CEO and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim chief, but Mullenweg refused to accept the decision,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/795718c7ba217fded4d7ca66c8b56917?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/795718c7ba217fded4d7ca66c8b56917?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":3,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}],"keywords":"wordpress","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Automattic's board ousted Mullenweg as CEO, then reversed course within 33 hours"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"This guy is the biggest Tech Bro Baby there is, FFS nobody likes you !","datePublished":"2026-09-15T08:45:09.497Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/X26fKweH2#c-5iqFGAWQM","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"7-Zark-7","url":"https://daily.dev/zx8086","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/v1666169239/avatars/avatar_rsfQchPIj.jpg"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Am I missing something here, or is this just giving severe tyrannical leader vibes? Gets voted out and basically kicks out everyone who was “conspiring” against him? His note about WP Engine as well. It looks to me like he’s completely lost it.","datePublished":"2026-09-14T21:51:59.324Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/X26fKweH2#c-wEoc93arI","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Carson Stricker","url":"https://daily.dev/carsonstricker","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLHKMxVeUyEPRBm8-x7IrRrB72aJ3KjGS3i3TYJljH1Q5ie7pU=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-ousted-mullenweg-as-ceo-then-reversed-course-within-33-hours-x26fkweh2#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why was Matt Mullenweg briefly removed as Automattic CEO and then reinstated?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Automattic's board voted to place Mullenweg on paid leave and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO, but reversed the decision about 33 hours and 20 minutes later, reinstating Mullenweg as chairman and CEO with the board's 'full support.' Neither Automattic nor Mullenweg has explained why the board acted or why it reversed course, with Mullenweg internally calling it a 'misunderstanding.' Follow how leadership upheaval at companies like Automattic can ripple into the open source projects developers depend on, tracked on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What happened to Automattic's board after Matt Mullenweg was reinstated as CEO?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Founding board member Toni Schneider, who is also CEO of Bluesky, reportedly resigned, and Mullenweg then removed the two remaining board members, Sue Decker and Ann Dunwoody. This effectively dissolved Automattic's board, with an announcement about a new board expected but no timeline given. Developers weighing how much a company's governance stability matters can track fallout like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```