Matt Mullenweg reportedly reinstated as Automattic CEO days after being sidelined

Automattic co-founder Matt Mullenweg says he has been reinstated as chief executive, only two days after the company's board placed him on paid leave, according to a Slack message reviewed by TechCrunch.

As 404 Media first reported on Wednesday, Mullenweg told staff in Slack that CFO Mark Davies had "conspired" with the board, which voted to put him on leave — a vote Mullenweg says he opposed. He also said the board had voted to make Davies interim CEO. Davies, in a separate Slack message, reportedly said Mullenweg would remain on the board. An Automattic spokesperson told The Verge that Mullenweg was "currently on leave" and confirmed Davies' interim appointment.

A sudden reversal

But in the message seen by TechCrunch, Mullenweg wrote that the board is "back in agreement" and that he is "in control of Automattic." He added that "a lot happened in the past 48 hours that we need to sort out," saying he hoped much of it was a misunderstanding given his respect for those involved. TechCrunch reported that Davies' Slack account had been deactivated, and that Mullenweg had removed all admins from Automattic's Slack workspace. According to 404 Media, Mullenweg posted about his apparent return late Thursday evening.

Automattic, which owns companies including WordPress.com, Tumblr, and Beeper, did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment. At 12:20PM ET on Friday, Mullenweg posted on X that "if you don't have a coup attempt every few years, you're not hiring strong enough leaders," adding that he believed this was his fifth such episode. The same day, he also published a blog post titled "Major Life Announcement," describing an offer he made to buy a houseboat.