Caroline Mitterdorfer began her fertility journey after a cancer diagnosis at age 27. She co-founded Levy Health to help speed Read more
Large corporations typically play it safe when it comes to consumer hardware, sticking to incremental updates year after year. Lenovo, Read more
Welcome to the Edtech World Big news in the education tech world! PowerSchool, the edtech giant, recently experienced a data Read more
Telegram Expanding Access to Crypto Wallet Telegram is now offering its crypto wallet to its 87 million users in the Read more
Calls for Matt Mullenweg to Step Down as Automattic CEO Amid Legal Battle
In recent months, there has been a growing chorus calling for Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, to step down from his leadership role. The controversy stems from Mullenweg’s legal battle with hosting company WP Engine.
Mullenweg, however, has no plans to relinquish his position. Instead, he is thinking about succession planning and how to ensure a smooth transition. He is adamant about not passing on the reins to a “committee,” but rather to another CEO who will continue to serve as a steward to the WordPress community.
In a recent episode of Lenny’s Podcast, Mullenweg revisited the drama surrounding his feud with WP Engine. He believes that WP Engine has been leveraging WordPress’s open source nature to grow its business without adequately giving back to the WordPress project and community, despite being built on WordPress.
Looking ahead, Mullenweg discussed the future of WordPress and Automattic. He emphasized the importance of maintaining voting control and hinted at his criteria for succession planning.
Ultimately, Mullenweg envisions a successor who will uphold his vision for Automattic and WordPress, acting as a steward rather than just a CEO. He acknowledges the accountability to the community and the need to balance their interests.
Mullenweg also highlighted Automattic’s role in promoting WordPress adoption, citing how WordPress.com has introduced over 100 million people to the software. He sees the collaboration between Automattic and WordPress.org as a successful model that other companies are beginning to embrace.
The drama between WordPress and WP Engine continues to unfold, but Mullenweg remains steadfast in his commitment to the WordPress community and the future of Automattic.
