Wp23  🔗 **Source:** [Wp23](https://wordpress.org/news/2026/05/wp23/) > [!note]+ Document Notes > --- > tags: [wordpress, private-equity, open-source-governance, legal-warfare, wp-engine-dispute] > author: Matt Mullenweg > source: WordPress.org News > reference: [https://wordpress.org/news/2026/05/wp23/] > date created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}} > --- > # 🏷️ Title: WP23 > ## 🧭 Table of Contents > - [📝 Summary](#-summary) > - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) > - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) > - [📚 References](#-references) > - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) > - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) > - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) > - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) > - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) > - [❓ Questions](#-questions) > - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) > - [💡 Implications](#-implications) > - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) > - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) > - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) > - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) > - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) > - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) > ## 📝 Summary > - WordPress 7.0 launched successfully with 46% adoption in one week across tens of millions of sites > - Matt Mullenweg describes WordPress as simultaneously "strongest and most precarious" at age 23 > - Legal battle with WP Engine/Silver Lake/Quinn Emanuel is consuming resources and threatening WordPress Foundation > - Personal plea for mediation, citing impact on personal relationships, colleagues' health, and open web ecosystem > - Mullenweg claims to "submit" and asks for mercy to end the dispute > ## 📖 Main Content > WordPress celebrated its 23rd anniversary with the successful launch of WordPress 7.0, achieving 46% adoption across tens of millions of sites within seven days. Mullenweg highlights this as evidence of WordPress's technical strength and security infrastructure, contrasting it with recent supply chain attacks affecting other projects. > However, Mullenweg describes the WordPress ecosystem as simultaneously "most precarious" due to ongoing legal warfare with WP Engine, backed by private equity firm Silver Lake and represented by Quinn Emanuel law firm. He characterizes this legal battle as threatening not just Automattic and WordPress.org, but the WordPress Foundation itself—a nonprofit supporting WordCamps and open source education globally. > The post reveals significant personal costs: Mullenweg reports missing his mother's surgery and being unable to visit hospitalized colleagues due to legal obligations. He describes the legal strategy as "paperclip-maximizing legal torture" that scrutinizes routine operational practices like log rotation and personal communications. > Mullenweg frames the dispute's origin as a presentation at WordCamp US 2024 about private equity's impact on open source communities—content that has received only 16,000 YouTube views over 19 months. He appeals directly to Silver Lake, acknowledging their recent acquisitions and political connections while arguing they don't need to "control and take over WordPress." > The post concludes with an unconditional surrender: "You've won. I submit. Let's move on." > ## 🗒️ Notes > - WordPress 7.0 achieved 46% adoption in seven days across millions of sites, including high-security deployments like WhiteHouse.gov > - Legal dispute originated from WordCamp US 2024 presentation about private equity's impact on open source communities > - Quinn Emanuel law firm representing WP Engine is targeting WordPress Foundation dissolution > - Silver Lake private equity firm recently acquired TikTok and has political connections with Trump administration > - Personal costs include missing family medical events and inability to visit hospitalized colleagues > - Mullenweg attempted two mediations and made public overtures, but WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner would not meet in person > - Legal scrutiny extends to routine operational practices (log rotation) and personal communications > ## 📚 References > - [WordPress 7.0 release](https://wordpress.org/news/) > - [Silver Lake private equity](https://www.silverlake.com/) > - [Quinn Emanuel law firm](https://www.quinnemanuel.com/) > - [WordCamp US 2024 presentation](https://youtube.com) > - [WP Engine](https://wpengine.com/) > ## 🗣️ Paraphrase > Matt Mullenweg published an emotional plea regarding WordPress's 23rd anniversary, highlighting both technical achievements and existential threats. While WordPress 7.0 deployed successfully to nearly half of all WordPress sites within a week, ongoing legal warfare with WP Engine and its private equity backers is consuming critical resources and threatening the WordPress Foundation's existence. Mullenweg describes significant personal costs from the dispute and concludes with an unconditional surrender, asking Silver Lake to end what he characterizes as destructive legal torture. > ## 📰 Newsletter > WordPress just turned 23, and it's a tale of two realities. On the bright side, WordPress 7.0 rolled out to 46% of all WordPress sites in just seven days—that's tens of millions of sites updating seamlessly, including high-security deployments like WhiteHouse.gov. It's a testament to the platform's maturity and the incredible community that maintains it. > But there's a darker story here. The ongoing legal battle between Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine (backed by Silver Lake private equity) is escalating beyond business disputes into what Mullenweg calls "paperclip-maximizing legal torture." The dispute now threatens the WordPress Foundation itself—the nonprofit that supports WordCamps and open source education worldwide. > What started as a presentation about private equity's impact on open source has spiraled into personal attacks affecting Mullenweg's ability to be present for family and colleagues during medical crises. His latest post ends with an unconditional surrender: "You've won. I submit. Let's move on." > This matters for every WordPress user, developer, and agency. The foundation of our ecosystem is under unprecedented legal pressure. Worth keeping an eye on how this resolves—and considering how we can better protect open source governance from hostile takeovers. > ## ✅ Action Items > #### WordPress > - **Core Program Team**: Monitor WordPress Foundation legal status and prepare contingency governance plans > - **Community**: Document and preserve institutional knowledge in case of foundation disruption > - **Marketing**: Develop messaging strategy that separates technical achievements from legal disputes > - **Support**: Prepare FAQ responses for community concerns about foundation stability > #### OSPO > - **Policy & Governance**: Review foundation structures for legal attack surface vulnerabilities > - **Strategic Alignment**: Assess how private equity disputes affect open source sustainability models > - **Community Engagement**: Evaluate mediation and conflict resolution mechanisms for foundation-level disputes > #### Community > - **Maintainers**: Consider governance redundancy and succession planning for critical infrastructure > - **Sponsors**: Evaluate funding diversification to reduce dependency on single entities > - **Ecosystem**: Develop protocols for community continuity during leadership transitions > ## 🧪 Hypotheses > - Private equity firms view open source foundations as acquisition targets when communities resist corporate control > - Legal warfare against nonprofit foundations may be more effective than technical or social attacks for gaining ecosystem control > - Personal attacks on open source leaders create leverage points that traditional business negotiations cannot achieve > - WordPress's technical success (46% adoption in 7 days) may be insufficient protection against governance-level attacks > - Community-supported mediation mechanisms are inadequate for disputes involving well-funded legal teams > - The "unconditional surrender" strategy may preserve technical infrastructure while ceding governance control > ## 📊 Methodology > - **Longitudinal tracking**: Monitor WordPress Foundation legal filings and governance changes over 6-12 months > - **Comparative analysis**: Study how other open source projects have handled private equity acquisition attempts > - **Community sentiment analysis**: Survey WordPress developers, agencies, and hosting providers about confidence in ecosystem stability > - **Techn WordPress at 23 is simultaneously both the strongest and most precarious it’s ever been. Last week, [we shipped WordPress 7 to the world](https://wordpress.org/news/2026/05/armstrong/). In seven days, [46% of all WordPresses](https://wordpress.org/about/stats/), tens of millions across countless different hosting environments, are already on 7.0, auto-updated with no breakage. From a [Raspberry Pi](https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/lamp-web-server-with-wordpress) to the most secure sites in the world, like [WhiteHouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/). Sit with that for a minute when you think of all the resources and all the projects that have had security problems in the past few weeks. No supply chain attacks, no security problems, just a stable, secure infrastructure doing its job invisibly to power a huge portion of the open internet. #### *I’m really proud of the capability and security of WordPress, and we should celebrate that. That accomplishment represents the work of thousands and thousands of people coming together to make the web a better place. Also, an iceberg of what is going on behind the scenes.* However, the release was not what I hoped it would be because so much time from key people was taken away by [WP Engine’s](https://wpengine.com/) attacks. [Silver Lake](https://www.silverlake.com/), in its immense 100B+ power, summoned a [shoggoth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoggoth) in [Quinn Emanual](https://www.quinnemanuel.com/) that has been paperclip-maximizing legal torture that is not just going after [Automattic](https://automattic.com/) and [WordPress.org](https://wordpress.org/) and me personally, but this Golem Jagannath is now trying to dissolve the [WordPress Foundation](https://wordpressfoundation.org/) itself, a non-profit with [no employees or payroll](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205498932) that supports [WordCamps](https://central.wordcamp.org/) and [Open Source education around the world](https://wordpress.org/education/credits/). If you know anyone at [Silver Lake](https://www.linkedin.com/company/silver-lake/), [Quinn Emanuel](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quinn-emanuel/), or [WP Engine](https://www.linkedin.com/company/wpengine/) in that order, please beg, plead with them to stop the violence. **End this internecine warfare** that is threatening to destroy one of the last stalwarts of the Open Web. It’s not fun and games anymore, not just business. This is having a real impact on people’s lives. It took every ounce of will in my body, and I am grateful to thousands of hours of meditation, to not explode in rage when asked about pineapple on pizza and debating the [meaning of Jean Baudrillard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard) and “[bastardized simalcra](https://wordpress.org/news/2024/09/wp-engine-banned/)” when miles away, my closest friend is in a hospital bed waiting for a heart transplant. I have colleagues [LITERALLY DYING](https://eric.blog/2026/05/24/six-months/) I can’t be with because Silver Lake / Quinn Emmanuel / WP Engine shoggoth is trying to make it seem like [I am hiding or destroying evidence because we rotate logs on wordpress.org or I have disappearing chats on Signal with romantic partners](https://www.therepository.email/wp-engine-and-automattic-trade-accusations-of-withheld-evidence-in-flurry-of-court-filings). I don’t curse, but this is so f-ed up I don’t know what to say. If you don’t know anyone at these entities, please pray, meditate, and call on whatever forces or divine interventions you can to bring this to an end. I have shown up to two meditations with open arms, I’ve extended every olive branch, and I’ve even said positive things about Silver Lake and WP Engine in the press, trying to bring this to a close. Heather Brunner would not even come into the same room with me, even though I was 20 feet away. All of this from a stupid presentation [I gave at WordCamp US 2024 about how private equity can hollow out high-trust-based Open Source communities that in the past 19 months has only gotten 16k views on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnI-QcVSwMU). Silver Lake, you have already extracted all your pounds of flesh. I missed my Mom’s knee surgery. If you wanted me to suffer for my sins, I have, and probably deeper than you will ever know. WordPress and WordPress.org, and yes, even my flawed leadership, are at the heart of what has made WP Engine successful so far. You have so much money and power, [you just got TikTok, the Trump administration loves you](https://pe-insights.com/trump-approves-14bn-tiktok-us-spin-off-with-oracle-silver-lake-and-kkr-as-investors/), you don’t need to control and take over WordPress, too. If you win, you destroy it, and then what? Please have mercy and stop trying to ruin people’s lives. You’ve won. I submit. Let’s move on., Wp23, wordpress.org, 01ksn9gymkq2grvaewq391nn7m.