Automattic’s Mullenweg Forms New Board After Failed Ouster Attempt
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has named a new board that includes science-fiction author Hugh Howey and two co-founders of the defunct social app IRL. This comes weeks after the previous board attempted to put him on leave.
September 28, 2026 - 4:21 pm
Matt Mullenweg, founder and chief executive of Automattic, speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Francisco on 30 October 2024
Credit: Kimberly White / Getty Images for TechCrunch, via Flickr under CC BY 2.0, cropped
Mullenweg confirmed the appointments to TechCrunch after publication. He informed staff about the changes on Friday via Automattic’s Slack announcements channel, according to TechCrunch. Automattic owns WordPress.com, Tumblr, and WooCommerce.
Who's on the Board?
The new board comprises:
- Hugh Howey, author of the "Silo" series
- Amy Chan, author of "Breakup Bootcamp"
- Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai, co-founders of IRL
IRL shut down in 2023 following investigations revealing that nearly all users were bots. SoftBank sued the company for securities fraud, and the co-founders later sued SoftBank and other investors.
Automattic has also added three advisors:
- Jaime Waydo, former Whoop CTO
- Matt Van Horn, co-founder of June
- Hiten Shah, co-founder of KISSmetrics
Mullenweg also announced that Stephen Wolfram has joined as a board advisor.
"We are living through times of unprecedented change, possibly a singularity. The next six months will determine the next 20 years of Automattic," Mullenweg stated.
The Failed Ouster
Earlier this month, the previous board voted to place Mullenweg on leave. He regained control within 33 hours and 20 minutes, according to Automattic. Mullenweg holds 84% of the company’s voting power.
Toni Schneider, a founding CEO of Automattic now running Bluesky, and Sue Decker resigned from the board, as did General Ann Dunwoody, CFO Mark Davies, and chief legal officer Andy Missan. The old board never publicly disclosed the reasons for their actions.
Mullenweg emphasized, "For purposes of Delaware law, I am the CEO, President, Treasurer, and Secretary."
He also hired Susman Godfrey as litigation counsel. Automattic is currently involved in a legal battle with hosting company WP Engine regarding trademarks and contributions to WordPress.
On Hacker News, Mullenweg explained that he returned due to his proxy votes and the fact that hundreds of top staff had messaged him about resigning or joining his upcoming venture.
He also soft-launched Spacefast, an AI site builder, the day before the board meeting. In March, WordPress.com began allowing AI agents to publish content to sites.
Story by Cristian Dina
Cristian Dina is the CRO at The Next Web. He has interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the book "King of Networking," establishing himself as one of the most connected and respected voices in the ecosystem.