WordPress founder fired, fires board back in 48-hour corporate power trip
In a display of corporate theater that would make a soap opera writer blush, the boss of Automattic just proved that if you own the game, you can simply rewrite the rules while the board is still reading their own exit papers.
On September 9, the board of Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, Tumblr, and WooCommerce, decided to initiate a hostile takeover of their own ship. They sent Matt Mullenweg (male, data-wp-title="Matt Mullenweg") a notice of his removal as CEO exactly 50 minutes before the scheduled meeting, denying him legal counsel. The vote was three to one, and the CFO was promptly named interim CEO to fill the power vacuum.
Matt Mullenweg, however, refused to play along with the corporate bureaucracy. He cut off the board's access to the company's internal communication channels and declared to his staff that he was back in charge, explicitly branding himself as a digital pirate. Within two days, the very same board that had just fired him issued a statement confirming that he was, in fact, the chairman and CEO, and that he had their full support.
The secret to this rapid reversal is the distinction between managing and owning. While a board of directors can legally vote to fire a CEO, the composition of that board is entirely at the mercy of the company's shareholders. Because Matt Mullenweg holds the controlling interest, he possesses the power to replace the board members who dared to challenge his authority. One director resigned, and the rest of the roster is now in active flux.
It is a stark reminder that in the world of high-stakes tech, corporate governance is often just a polite veneer for whoever holds the majority of the voting stock. The board clearly overestimated their leverage, betting that their internal alliance would hold against a founder who still owns the keys to the kingdom.
Source: WordPress.com
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