Automattic has confirmed that Matt Mullenweg has returned to his duties as chairman and CEO. After a management crisis that spanned several days, the company announced that the founder had reinstated with the support of the board of directors, ending the temporary separation process at the beginning of the week. If you publish on WordPress.com or run a store with WooCommerce, this development directly concerns the management of the company behind the products you use, but does not by itself mean a change in the terms of service.
The board placed Mullenweg on paid leave during the week. Chief financial officer Mark Davies took on the responsibility of interim CEO during this period. Then Mullenweg said he regained control over his communications within the company. The reinstatement process once again changed the distribution of responsibilities at the top of the company, just a few days after the initial separation decision.
The company’s confirmation of his duties as president and CEO clarifies the formality of the return. However, publicly available information does not reveal all the reasons for the board’s initial decision. Therefore, there is not enough basis to attribute what happened to the success or failure of a particular product. It is necessary to evaluate the management change itself and the comments regarding this change separately.
Automattic’s activities do not consist of a single website service. In addition to WordPress.com and WooCommerce, the company also includes services such as Tumblr, Jetpack, Simplenote and Pocket Casts in its product portfolio. Day One represents the journaling applications side. Therefore, the company’s management structure covers a product group ranging from publishing to electronic commerce and personal content tools.
WordPress.com and the open source project have different structures
You do not encounter the same corporate structure wherever you see the name WordPress. The distinction between WordPress.com and WordPress.org distinguishes between a hosting service and an open source software project. Automattic operates the WordPress.com service and contributes to the open source ecosystem. Running WordPress on your own server does not automatically mean that you are a WordPress.com customer.
Automattic also follows a distributed structure in its working order. The company says it has relied on remote work since its founding in 2005. Teams carry out product development and support work without having to be in the same office. This corporate background makes it easier to understand the place of internal communication channels in management discussions, but it does not alone explain the separation decision.
For now, the confirmed concrete result for customers is that Mullenweg is back at the helm. The company’s statement does not include a decision such as a new subscription tariff, forced transition or product closure. While evaluating whether there are any changes in the service you use, you can follow the notifications of that product itself. All the details of the management crisis depend on the parties sharing more information.
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