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Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has rebuilt the company\u2019s board just weeks after its previous directors tried, and failed, to oust him. The board, which was announced to staff Friday, is an eclectic group that includes a best-selling science fiction author and two co-founders of the now-defunct social app IRL, TechCrunch has learned. <\/p>\n
The new board is the latest twist in an internal governance fight at Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, Tumblr, WooCommerce, and others. Earlier this month, the previous board voted to place Mullenweg on leave<\/a> in an attempt to remove him from the board, only to have the CEO retake control<\/a> just 33 hours later and remove or accept the resignations of the directors who were involved.<\/p>\n This week, Mullenweg posted about a board meeting<\/a>, but didn\u2019t share who he was meeting with. Now, he\u2019s finally informing Automattic employees of the board changes via the company\u2019s announcements channel in Slack. <\/p>\n Sources told TechCrunch the new Automattic board includes: <\/p>\n We should note that IRL shut down after investigations revealed<\/a> that nearly all of its user base was made up of bots. The co-founders, who also included CEO Abraham Shafi, later sued SoftBank and other investors <\/a>after SoftBank had sued for securities fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n A slew of new advisers have also joined, including Curio Studio co-founder Jaime Waydo, June co-founder Matt Van Horn, and KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah.<\/p>\n In the announcement to staff, Mullenweg reportedly wrote that, \u201cfor purposes of Delaware law, I am the CEO, President, Treasurer, and Secretary,\u201d adding that the attempted firing had also brought in \u201cmany amazing supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe had the most interesting board meeting in a decade (since the Woo acquisition),\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Reached for comment, Automattic said it hoped to have a comment for TechCrunch soon.<\/p>\n Automattic\u2019s original board had voted to put Mullenweg on paid leave, but he took back control of the company<\/a>, letting go of those involved in what he described on X as a \u201ccoup attempt.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n To replace the board, Mullenweg leveraged his voting shares \u2014 he controls 84%<\/a> of the vote, he said at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. The period between his departure and return lasted exactly \u201c33 hours and 20 minutes,\u201d Automattic told TechCrunch previously.<\/p>\n Following the failed board vote, member\u00a0Toni Schneider,<\/a>\u00a0a founding CEO of Automattic\u00a0and now CEO of Bluesky, resigned from his board position. Mullenweg himself removed Gen. Ann Dunwoody<\/a> from the board, and board member Sue Decker<\/a> also resigned. In addition, Mullenweg let go of Automattic CFO Mark Davies, who was slated to become interim CEO, and Chief Legal Officer Andy Missan<\/a>, TechCrunch confirmed with sources.<\/p>\n\n