The Automattic board ouster that upended the WordPress parent company last week has concluded decisively: the three directors who voted to place chief executive Matt Mullenweg on paid leave are gone, and Mullenweg has replaced them with an entirely new set of faces.
Mullenweg was away from the helm for just 33 hours and 20 minutes, according to a statement from an Automattic spokesperson issued after midnight on Sunday. By Saturday the company had confirmed he was back. By Monday, sources said, an internal announcement about the reconstituted board was expected.
The Automattic Board Ouster and What Followed
The three outgoing directors were Toni Schneider, Sue Decker, and retired General Ann Dunwoody. Schneider, who was Automattic’s founding chief executive and now leads the social network Bluesky, resigned his board seat. Decker, whose LinkedIn profile was updated to reflect her tenure as running from March 2020 through September 2026, also resigned. Dunwoody, described on Automattic’s own board page as the first woman in US military history to achieve a four-star officer rank and an executive who managed a $60 billion budget during her career, was removed by Mullenweg directly.
The mechanics of Mullenweg’s return are worth noting. According to The Next Web, he told staff: ‘For purposes of Delaware law, I am the CEO, President, Treasurer, and Secretary.’ He said he was able to reclaim control through his proxy votes and because hundreds of senior employees had messaged him threatening to resign or follow him to his next venture.
The purge extended beyond the boardroom. Automattic’s chief financial officer, Mark Davies, who had been designated interim CEO during Mullenweg’s brief absence, and chief legal officer Andy Missan were both let go after Mullenweg returned.
A New Board, and a Parallel Business Move
In their place, Mullenweg has installed an unconventional set of directors. The new board includes science-fiction author Hugh Howey, best known for the novel Silo; Amy Chan, author of Breakup Bootcamp; and Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai, both previously associated with the now-defunct social app IRL.
The board drama coincided with a separate business move. The day before the board met to vote on his removal, Mullenweg had soft-launched an AI site builder called Spacefast, according to The Next Web.
An Automattic spokesperson offered measured language when asked about the departures: ‘Matt and Automattic’s leadership team have great respect for everyone involved. While we can’t comment on specific individuals, we’re thankful for their contributions to Automattic and its mission, and we remain excited about what’s ahead with Matt at the helm.’
What prompted the original board vote remains unclear. Automattic declined to provide specifics.
The WP Engine Lawsuit Looms Over All of It
The internal power struggle plays out against an ongoing legal battle with WP Engine, a WordPress hosting company, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The two sides have been in dispute over WordPress trademark use and engineering contributions to the open-source project.
The litigation has grown more acrimonious in recent months. WP Engine filed a motion for sanctions on 28 July 2026, alleging that Mullenweg’s communications on WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram from July 2024 through 16 March 2026 were not properly preserved, and asking the court to deem it conclusively established that certain messages were destroyed or are no longer available.
Court documents reported by The Repository show the first forensic imaging of any of Mullenweg’s devices did not occur until 17 April 2025, nine months after Automattic’s evidence preservation obligation began and six months after WP Engine filed suit. When the copy of his iPhone was made, no WhatsApp or Signal messages were captured because the e-discovery software did not yet support the version of iOS running on the device.
Automattic has pushed back in a 31-page opposition filing, arguing WP Engine cannot identify a single case-relevant message that went missing, and that five of Mullenweg’s devices were subsequently imaged by forensic firm Level Legal. A federal judge has also previously found that Mullenweg ‘appeared to be evasive or to waste time’ during his three-day deposition in the case.
Automattic’s counterclaims, reported by TechCrunch, allege that WP Engine’s private equity backer Silver Lake was attempting to sell WP Engine at a $2 billion valuation and could not find a buyer, including after approaching Automattic itself. Mullenweg has also retained Susman Godfrey as litigation counsel.
The company has been under strain beyond the courtroom. In April 2025, Automattic laid off 16% of its staff, including some employees who had been with the business for more than a decade.
With a loyalist board now in place and senior dissenters cleared out, the next test is whether Mullenweg can stabilise the organisation while fighting a lawsuit that is growing heavier by the filing. The sanctions motion remains live, and the court’s view of the evidence preservation record will matter considerably to what comes next.
