Thoughts on Automattic and WordPress:  🔗 **Source:** [Thoughts on Automattic and WordPress:](https://twitter.com/trentlapinski/status/2098884684596081052/?rw_tt_thread=True) > [!note]+ Document Notes > --- > tags: > - automattic > - wordpress-governance > - wp-engine-lawsuit > - open-source-governance > - corporate-governance > author: Trent Lapinski (trentlapinski) > source: https://twitter.com/trentlapinski/status/2098884684596081052/?rw_tt_thread=True > reference: https://twitter.com/trentlapinski/status/2098884684596081052/?rw_tt_thread=True > date created: 2026-09-13 > --- > > [!info] Generated analysis — not the author's words. Sections below are machine-written > > from the captured source. Only text inside `> [!quote]` blocks is verbatim from the author. > > Do not quote or attribute any other line to the named author. > ## 🏷️ Title > **Thoughts on Automattic and WordPress** — a two-part X/Twitter thread by Trent Lapinski, posted in the days after Automattic's board voted to place CEO Matt Mullenweg on leave (naming CFO Mark Davies interim CEO) and Mullenweg's return to the CEO seat shortly afterward. Part one is a long-form prose forecast; part two is the same argument restated as bullet points because, in the author's words, there is no TL;DR. > ## 🧭 Table of Contents > 1. 🔗 References (in-page) > 2. 📝 Summary > 3. 📖 Main Content and Notes > 4. 📚 References > 5. 🗣️ Paraphrase > 6. 📰 Newsletter > 7. ✅ Action Items > 8. 🧪 Hypotheses > 9. 📊 Methodology > 10. ❓ Questions > 11. 🔮 Future Research > 12. 💡 Implications > 13. 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment > 14. 📊 Accessibility Assessment > 15. 🌍 DEIB Assessment > 16. ✅ Logical Validity > 17. 🛡️ DARVO Analysis > 18. 🎯 Conclusion > 19. 🧱 Refactor Appendix > ## 🔗 References (in-page) > The captured body contains **no hyperlinks**. Every factual claim in the thread (the 83% markdown, the BlackRock mark, the trial resuming at month end, the CFO firing, the board reshuffle mechanics) is asserted without a citation. The only external reference the author gestures at is "BlackRock's latest mark is the public datapoint people are citing," which is itself unlinked. Treat the thread as opinion and forecast, not reporting. > ## 📝 Summary > **What happened.** Automattic's board placed Matt Mullenweg on leave and installed CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO. Mullenweg publicly said the board "conspired" and that he voted no. Within days he was back as CEO. The author infers (explicitly labeling it a guess in places) that Mullenweg reconstituted the board, held an emergency meeting, removed the sitting directors, seated a friendlier board, and reversed the leave decision. > **Why it matters.** If that inference is right, the author argues the ousted directors — who represent significant shareholders — retain standing to sue for breach of fiduciary duty or to seek an injunction. That, layered on top of the ongoing WP Engine litigation, an 83% valuation markdown over five years, and the loss of the CFO, would cut Automattic off from new venture capital and put payroll at risk. For WordPress the project, the author's forecast is fewer developers, less money, and weaker leadership at precisely the moment the project needs to reinvent itself for an "agentic" web. > **Stakeholders.** Automattic employees and leadership; Automattic's investors (the thread names VC firms, BlackRock, and Salesforce); WP Engine and its customers; the WordPress open source project and its contributor teams; hosts and agencies whose businesses depend on project stability; the independent governance efforts that have formed since the 2024 dispute (FAIR, The WP Open Community Collective). > **Risks flagged by the author.** Shareholder class action; injunction removing Mullenweg again; adverse WP Engine verdict with multi-million-dollar penalties; the author's speculation about criminal extortion exposure (which the author himself labels "an allegation/prediction, not a charge"); VC blacklisting; missed payroll and layoffs; strategic paralysis on AI. > **Bottom line.** A pessimistic but internally consistent forecast from a long-time open web contributor who closes by saying he takes no pride in it. The chain of reasoning is plausible at each link but compounds unverified assumptions, and several of the strongest claims (revenue "really bad," "won't be making payroll," "WP Engine likely wins") are stated with more confidence than the evidence in the thread supports. Useful as a map of the downside scenario, not as a set of facts. > ## 📖 Main Content > The thread runs in two passes. > **Pass one (prose)** opens with the conditional mechanics of Mullenweg's return: board-stacking, an emergency meeting, dismissal of the sitting board, appointment of a new one, reinstatement, and dismissal of the interim CEO. It then pivots to the financial picture (83% decline in five years), the WP Engine trial calendar, a guess at the board's motive (get Mullenweg out of the seat before trial and possibly settle), the litigation exposure that follows from firing directors who represent large shareholders, the capital-markets consequence (blacklisted from VC), and a menu of endgames: a down-round buyout by a new investor, a recapitalization that only happens if Mullenweg leaves, or a scorched-earth skeleton-crew survival plan. The final third turns to WordPress itself: less capacity, AI eroding the business, and an argument that WordPress must become part of an agentic stack rather than a passive data store, which the author believes no one is positioned to drive. It closes on a personal note of grief about the open web and a wish that open source governance had been solved. > **Pass two (bullets)** restates the same content under headings (the board move, money and investors, if Matt stays CEO, WP Engine lawsuit, what this means for WordPress, the closer). Notably, the bullet version adds hedges the prose version lacks: "just speculation," "Guess as to why the board moved," "That is an allegation/prediction, not a charge," "in this view." > ### 🗒️ Notes > - The two passes are not identical in confidence. Read the bullets as the author's more careful statement of the same position. > - The mechanism described (emergency meeting, removal, reconstitution) is the author's reconstruction; the thread does not cite board minutes, a filing, or a statement from Automattic. Verify against Automattic's own announcements before repeating it. > - The 83% figure appears to derive from a single fund's private-market mark, not from an audited valuation or a transaction. Fund marks move on comps and discount rates as well as on company performance. > - The "blacklisted from VC" claim is a reasonable heuristic about investor behavior during active shareholder litigation, but the author presents it as a certainty. > - The agentic-stack argument is the one forward-looking, constructive claim in the thread and the one most relevant to WordPress contributor teams regardless of how the corporate story resolves. It intersects directly with the Core AI team's mandate, the Abilities API, and the MCP adapter work already underway in the project. > - The closing paragraph is the emotional center of the thread and the reason it circulated: an insider's grief rather than a rival's gloat. > ## 📚 References > Primary sources the reader should consult to check the thread's claims (none are linked in the source itself): > - The source thread: https://twitter.com/trentlapinski/status/2098884684596081052/?rw_tt_thread=True > - Automattic's newsroom and leadership announcements: https://automattic.com/ > - *WP Engine, Inc. v. Automattic Inc. and Matthew Mullenweg*, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 3:24-cv-06917 (filed October 2024). Docket available via PACER or CourtListener; search by case number. > - WP Engine's public statements on the dispute: https://wpengine.com/ > - WordPress.org project news and Make WordPress team blogs, for any official project response: https://wordpress.org/news/ and https://make.wordpress.org/ > - BlackRock fund holdings disclosures (the private-market mark the author references is reported in fund semi-annual and annual reports; verify the specific fund and date before citing a percentage). > - FAIR Package Manager (federated, independent WordPress distribution): https://fair.pm/ > - The WP Open Community Collective (The WPOCC) — the contributor-led governance effort; verify current URL before citing. > ## 🗣️ Paraphr 📄 **Full text:** [[Full Document Contents/Tweets/Thoughts on Automattic and WordPress-2.md|Thoughts on Automattic and WordPress: by Trent]] ## Highlights - To get his CEO title back, if Matt stacked the board, held an emergency board meeting fired everyone then appointed a new board to reinstate him as CEO and fire the interim CEO then he now risks a shareholder class action lawsuit. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqnyk82c7gzpjf6p11wyh4)) - Note: The thread's core claim: the mechanics of the CEO's return and the litigation exposure they create. - Tags: atom/literature/h1 - Automattic has declined in value 83% in 5 years. Their revenue is likely bad, like really bad for such a decline to happen. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp6qm0942t1299fd54fzk)) - Note: Non sequitur: a private fund markdown bundles multiples, liquidity, and litigation risk; it does not establish revenue decline. - Tags: fallacy/non-sequitur - Matt’s only hope at this point is to find an investor stupid enough to buy out the other investors in a down round. If they’re even willing to sell. The other investors might prefer to sue and not sell just to stick it to Matt. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqpa04g62ja784qqn40zk3)) - Note: False dilemma: excludes negotiated governance settlements, partial secondaries, debt, or a strategic sale. - Tags: fallacy/false-dilemma - If Matt cannot find another investor all he has left is the companies revenue which is in major decline but he just fired the CFO. There’s a good chance they won’t be making payroll sooner rather than later. Which means more layoffs. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp8c6t8rr7b327jb6nja9)) - Note: Slippery slope: no investor to no CFO to missed payroll to layoffs, with no probabilities and an inferred premise (revenue decline). - Tags: fallacy/slippery-slope - As the Internet moves towards becoming an agentic AI Internet, WordPress’s only hope is to become an agentic system. Merely using WordPress as a data store is not enough. It has to pivot to become part of the agentic stack but there’s really no one to drive such a radical change to the project and Matt would never allow it as it breaks 20 years of legacy development. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp19xcv9q9y4avhdck128)) - Note: The one forward-looking strategic claim; directly relevant to Core AI, Abilities API, and MCP adapter work. - Tags: atom/literature/h2 - I take no pride in this, as it means the destruction of the open web as we know it. Something I contributed many years of my life to building is now being destabilized and destroyed. It’s a shitty feeling, and I wish we had solved open source governance more effectively so this never could have happened. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp4b473t3atcc2hd67ems)) - Note: The emotional center and the governance thesis; the reason the thread circulated. - Tags: atom/literature/h3 ## New Highlights added 2026-09-19 at 6:31 PM - To get his CEO title back, if Matt stacked the board, held an emergency board meeting fired everyone then appointed a new board to reinstate him as CEO and fire the interim CEO then he now risks a shareholder class action lawsuit. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqnyk82c7gzpjf6p11wyh4)) - Note: The thread's core claim: the mechanics of the CEO's return and the litigation exposure they create. - Tags: atom/literature/h1 - Automattic has declined in value 83% in 5 years. Their revenue is likely bad, like really bad for such a decline to happen. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp6qm0942t1299fd54fzk)) - Note: Non sequitur: a private fund markdown bundles multiples, liquidity, and litigation risk; it does not establish revenue decline. - Tags: fallacy/non-sequitur - Matt’s only hope at this point is to find an investor stupid enough to buy out the other investors in a down round. If they’re even willing to sell. The other investors might prefer to sue and not sell just to stick it to Matt. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqpa04g62ja784qqn40zk3)) - Note: False dilemma: excludes negotiated governance settlements, partial secondaries, debt, or a strategic sale. - Tags: fallacy/false-dilemma - If Matt cannot find another investor all he has left is the companies revenue which is in major decline but he just fired the CFO. There’s a good chance they won’t be making payroll sooner rather than later. Which means more layoffs. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp8c6t8rr7b327jb6nja9)) - Note: Slippery slope: no investor to no CFO to missed payroll to layoffs, with no probabilities and an inferred premise (revenue decline). - Tags: fallacy/slippery-slope - As the Internet moves towards becoming an agentic AI Internet, WordPress’s only hope is to become an agentic system. Merely using WordPress as a data store is not enough. It has to pivot to become part of the agentic stack but there’s really no one to drive such a radical change to the project and Matt would never allow it as it breaks 20 years of legacy development. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp19xcv9q9y4avhdck128)) - Note: The one forward-looking strategic claim; directly relevant to Core AI, Abilities API, and MCP adapter work. - Tags: atom/literature/h2 - I take no pride in this, as it means the destruction of the open web as we know it. Something I contributed many years of my life to building is now being destabilized and destroyed. It’s a shitty feeling, and I wish we had solved open source governance more effectively so this never could have happened. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2dqp4b473t3atcc2hd67ems)) - Note: The emotional center and the governance thesis; the reason the thread circulated. - Tags: atom/literature/h3