{"rewrite":{"id":"r_a10f9c2ff9aa01f7bd4019c3","clusterId":"c_8051952b27c8e2d4bc091089","slug":"automattic-board-places-ceo-matt-mullenweg-on-paid-leave","model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Automattic Board Places CEO Matt Mullenweg On Paid Leave","summary":"Automattic's board placed CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave on September 9, 2026. Mullenweg told employees on Slack that CFO Mark Davies and board members Ann Dunwoody, Tony Schneider, and Sue Decker voted the resolution through against his vote, and that he received it 50 minutes before the meeting. Davies is interim CEO. WordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard said the open-source project is unaffected.","whyItMatters":"The board moved the co-developer of WordPress out of the CEO seat at the company he founded while leaving him on the board, so the split between Automattic's for-profit leadership and the WordPress project is now a written arrangement rather than a question.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eMullenweg posted the news himself in a Slack channel all Automattic employees can read, naming Davies, Dunwoody, Schneider, and Decker as the votes behind the resolution and saying he asked for time to have an independent lawyer review it. He voted against it. Davies told staff Mullenweg stays on the board.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard told the community that Mullenweg remains the leader of the WordPress project and that team, priorities, and operations continue as planned. Automattic told TechCrunch the board has full confidence in Davies as interim CEO.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Matt Mullenweg says the resolution passed 4-1 and reached him 50 minutes before the meeting. The 50-minute window is the detail: it means the CEO learned of his own removal on the same clock as everyone else in the room.","twitterPost":"Matt Mullenweg got 50 minutes' notice of his own paid leave. Mark Davies is interim CEO, and Mullenweg says he was outvoted 4-1.","threadsPost":"Matt Mullenweg says he received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting, and that Mark Davies, Ann Dunwoody, Tony Schneider, and Sue Decker passed it 4-1 over his vote. Automattic's CEO was given less warning than the board's own agenda allowed.","newsletterBlurb":"Automattic's board placed CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave on September 9, 2026, and CFO Mark Davies is interim CEO. Mullenweg told employees on Slack that Davies and board members Ann Dunwoody, Tony Schneider, and Sue Decker voted the resolution through against his vote. WordPress.org executive director Mary Hubbard said the open-source project is unaffected and Mullenweg remains its leader.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"GIGAZINE\",\"url\":\"https://gigazine.net/news/20260910-automattic-ceo-matt-mullenweg-leave-absence/\",\"title\":\"Automattic places WordPress co-developer and CEO Matt Mullenweg on leave\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4691,"outputTokens":610,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1789014571,"createdAt":"2026-09-10T04:25:45.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-09-10T04:28:23.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-10T04:28:23.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_8051952b27c8e2d4bc091089","canonicalTitle":"AutomatticがWordPressの共同開発者であるマット・マレンウェッグCEOを休職処分に","representativeArticleId":"a_9376b6bc3f7e75ec332ef505","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[\"Matt Mullenweg\"],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"industry\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-09-10T03:25:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-09-10T03:25:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-10T04:28:20.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"GIGAZINE","url":"https://gigazine.net/news/20260910-automattic-ceo-matt-mullenweg-leave-absence/","title":"AutomatticがWordPressの共同開発者であるマット・マレンウェッグCEOを休職処分に"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":[],"studios":[],"people":["Matt Mullenweg"],"type":"news","domain":"industry","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}