--- title: Automattic's board tried to oust Mullenweg. He rebuilt... description: Automattic's board attempted to remove Matt Mullenweg while he was away, installing CFO Mark Davies as acting CEO and elevating chief legal officer Andy... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-tried-to-oust-mullenweg-he-rebuilt-the-whole-company-in-33-hours--kwraisqsg twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Automattic's board tried to oust Mullenweg. He rebuilt the whole company in 33 hours. | daily.dev og:description: Automattic's board attempted to remove Matt Mullenweg while he was away, installing CFO Mark Davies as acting CEO and elevating chief legal officer Andy... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-tried-to-oust-mullenweg-he-rebuilt-the-whole-company-in-33-hours--kwraisqsg og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/kWRaISQsG.png og:image:alt: Automattic's board tried to oust Mullenweg. He rebuilt the whole company in 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 tried to oust Mullenweg. He rebuilt the whole company in 33 hours. **[Trends](https://daily.dev/sources/trends)** · 2 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Automattic's board attempted to remove Matt Mullenweg while he was away, installing CFO Mark Davies as acting CEO and elevating chief legal officer Andy Massan. Mullenweg, who controls 84% of voting shares, reversed the move within 33 hours and 20 minutes, firing the board, Davies, and Massan. Davies and Massan had drafted severance deals for themselves during their brief tenure worth over $8 million, including a year's salary, health insurance, and immediate stock vesting. Mullenweg installed a new board featuring a sci-fi author, a relationship coach, and startup founders, alongside advisers like Stephen Wolfram, while former members Toni Schneider and Sue Decker resigned. This unfolds amid Automattic's ongoing trademark lawsuit against WP Engine and Silver Lake, a legal counsel change, and the soft launch of an AI site builder called Spacefast. ## Content Matt Mullenweg was away when Automattic's board made their move. They placed him on leave, promoted CFO Mark Davies to acting CEO, and presumably thought that was that. It lasted 33 hours and 20 minutes. Mullenweg controls 84% of Automattic's voting shares. He used them. The board was gone, Davies was fired, and chief legal officer Andy Massan was out too. The problem: Davies and Massan had drafted their own severance deals during their brief window of power, entitling themselves to a year's salary, health insurance, and immediate stock vesting. Total cost to Automattic: over $8 million for a 33-hour tenure. Now Mullenweg has installed a new board, and the choices are... interesting. Sci-fi author Hugh Howey. "Breakup Bootcamp" author Amy Chan. The co-founders of IRL. On the adviser side: Stephen Wolfram, KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah, and former Whoop CTO Jaime Waydo. Former board members Toni Schneider (now Bluesky CEO) and Sue Decker resigned; General Ann Dunwoody was removed. The new board is conspicuously light on people who might push back on Mullenweg. That's probably the point. All of this is happening while Automattic is deep in a trademark lawsuit against WP Engine and its backer Silver Lake. Mullenweg also replaced the company's legal counsel, bringing in Susman Godfrey as litigation counsel. The day before the board meeting, he soft-launched an AI site builder called Spacefast. The read here isn't complicated: a founder with supermajority voting control got challenged, crushed the challenge, and rebuilt the governance structure around people unlikely to try again. The $8 million severance bill is the most concrete damage, but the longer-term question is what Automattic looks like when the board is authors and startup founders rather than anyone with operational experience in a company this size. ## Questions this post answers ### What happened when Automattic's board tried to remove Matt Mullenweg as CEO? The board placed Mullenweg on leave and installed CFO Mark Davies as acting CEO, but Mullenweg reversed it within 33 hours and 20 minutes using his 84% voting control. He fired the entire board, removed Davies, and ousted chief legal officer Andy Massan, who had drafted themselves severance deals worth over $8 million during their brief tenure. _Governance battles like this one are worth tracking on daily.dev if you follow Automattic or WordPress._ ### Who is on Automattic's new board after the leadership shakeup? The rebuilt board includes sci-fi author Hugh Howey and Breakup Bootcamp author Amy Chan, plus the co-founders of IRL, while advisers include Stephen Wolfram, KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah, and former Whoop CTO Jaime Waydo. Former members Toni Schneider, now Bluesky CEO, and Sue Decker resigned, and General Ann Dunwoody was removed. _daily.dev surfaces stories like this for developers following WordPress ecosystem power shifts._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [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 - [Elevating Individuals](https://daily.dev/posts/elevating-individuals-s8glmwhji) · Make WordPress Core · 10 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#wordpress](https://daily.dev/tags/wordpress) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-tried-to-oust-mullenweg-he-rebuilt-the-whole-company-in-33-hours--kwraisqsg) ```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 tried to oust Mullenweg. 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He rebuilt the whole company in 33 hours."}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-s-board-tried-to-oust-mullenweg-he-rebuilt-the-whole-company-in-33-hours--kwraisqsg#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What happened when Automattic's board tried to remove Matt Mullenweg as CEO?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The board placed Mullenweg on leave and installed CFO Mark Davies as acting CEO, but Mullenweg reversed it within 33 hours and 20 minutes using his 84% voting control. He fired the entire board, removed Davies, and ousted chief legal officer Andy Massan, who had drafted themselves severance deals worth over $8 million during their brief tenure. Governance battles like this one are worth tracking on daily.dev if you follow Automattic or WordPress."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is on Automattic's new board after the leadership shakeup?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The rebuilt board includes sci-fi author Hugh Howey and Breakup Bootcamp author Amy Chan, plus the co-founders of IRL, while advisers include Stephen Wolfram, KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah, and former Whoop CTO Jaime Waydo. Former members Toni Schneider, now Bluesky CEO, and Sue Decker resigned, and General Ann Dunwoody was removed. daily.dev surfaces stories like this for developers following WordPress ecosystem power shifts."}}]} ```