Automattic chief executive Matt Mullenweg has named a new board, weeks after the previous directors tried to put him on leave. The board includes science-fiction author Hugh Howey and two co-founders of the defunct social app IRL, Sarah Perez reported for TechCrunch. Mullenweg confirmed the appointments to TechCrunch after publication.
Mullenweg told staff about the changes on Friday in Automattic’s Slack announcements channel, TechCrunch reported. Automattic owns WordPress.com, Tumblr and WooCommerce.
Who is on the board
The four new directors are Howey, who wrote the “Silo” series, and Amy Chan, author of “Breakup Bootcamp”. IRL co-founders Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai complete the board. Mullenweg described Khachatryan as a “founder and builder”.
IRL shut down in 2023 after investigations found that nearly all of its users were bots, TechCrunch noted. SoftBank sued the company for securities fraud, and the co-founders later sued SoftBank and other investors.
Automattic has also added three advisers: former Whoop CTO Jaime Waydo, June co-founder Matt Van Horn and KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah. Mullenweg said on X that computer scientist Stephen Wolfram had joined as a board adviser.
“We are living through times of unprecedented change, possibly a singularity. The next six months will determine the next 20 years of Automattic,” Mullenweg said in a statement to TechCrunch.
The failed ouster
Earlier this month, the previous board voted to place Mullenweg on leave. He took back control 33 hours and 20 minutes later, according to Automattic. He controls 84% of the company’s voting power, he said in 2024.
Toni Schneider, a founding CEO of Automattic who now runs Bluesky, resigned from the board, as did Sue Decker. Mullenweg removed General Ann Dunwoody and let go of CFO Mark Davies and chief legal officer Andy Missan, TechCrunch reported. The old board never said publicly why it tried to remove him.
“For purposes of Delaware law, I am the CEO, President, Treasurer, and Secretary,” Mullenweg reportedly wrote in his message to staff.
He also hired Susman Godfrey as litigation counsel. Automattic is in a legal fight with hosting company WP Engine over trademarks and contributions to WordPress.
On Hacker News, Mullenweg wrote that he came back because of his proxy votes and because hundreds of top staff had messaged him about resigning or joining his next venture.
He soft-launched Spacefast, an AI site builder, the day before the board met, he said on X. In March, WordPress.com began letting AI agents publish to sites.