The legal battle between WordPress and WP Engine is doing the rounds for almost a month now ever since Matt Mullenweg, CEO of WordPress’s parent company Automattic labelled WP Engine as ‘Cancer to WordPress‘ in a WordCamp USA conference.
As a part of the ongoing tussle between the two companies, On October 3, Thursday, the dispute between Automattic and WP Engine escalated as WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Automattic and Mullenweg in a court in california, accusing Automattic of attempted extortion. This development sparked intense internal debate within Automattic. In a blog post, Matt Mullenweg acknowledged the internal divisions, stating, “It became clear a good chunk of my Automattic colleagues disagreed with me and our actions.”
According to TechCrunch, The hosting company also alleged that Automattic and Mullenweg didn’t keep their promises to run WordPress open source projects without any constraints and giving developers the freedom to build, run, modify, and redistribute the software.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust. WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community,” said WP Engine in a statement to TechCrunch.
The lawsuit also notes alleged texts from Mullenweg about potentially hiring WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner. On contrary, in a comment on Hacker News, Mullenweg said that Brunner wanted to be an executive director of WordPress.org.
“I stayed up last night reading WP Engine’s Complaint, trying to find any merit anywhere to it. The whole thing is meritless, and we look forward to the federal court’s consideration of their lawsuit,” the company’s legal representative, Neal Katyal, said in a blog post.
Matt Mullenweg unveiled an unconventional solution to quell internal unrest at Automattic, offering dissatisfied employees a lucrative exit strategy. He presented this proposal as “the most generous buy-out package possible,” which consisted of a substantial payout of either $30,000 or six months’ salary, whichever amount was greater. However, this offer came with two stringent conditions: employees had to make their decision by 1 p.m. Pacific Time on October 3, and those who accepted would forfeit any future opportunity to rejoin the company.
By the designated deadline, a total of 159 employees – equivalent to 8.4% of Automattic’s workforce – opted to depart the company in exchange for the generous buyout package, Matt Mullenweg revealed. Notably, one of the people who resigned was Josepha Haden Chomphosy, executive director of WordPress.
On October 8, WordPress in a blog post unveiled that Mary Hubbard, TikTok’s former head of governance and experience will be joining WordPress as the new executive director from 21 October 2024.
Mullenweg said that 159 people took the offer while the 91.6% who opted to stay turned down a collective $126 million.
On October 12, Mullenweg wrote in a post that every working Automattic employee would get 200 A12 shares as a token of gratitude. These shares are a special class for Automattic employees that they can sell after one year and don’t have an expiry date.
Matt Mullenweg reflected on the mass departure, acknowledging the emotional impact while also expressing relief and renewed enthusiasm. “Every resignation stings a bit. However, now I feel much lighter. I’m grateful and thankful for all the people who took the offer, and even more excited to work with those who turned down $126M to stay.” Mullenweg confessed
