I’m relieved and pleased to see Matt Mullenweg return as CEO of Automattic, the largest financial contributor to the WordPress project. Having WordPress’s Co-founder and Project Lead at the helm gives me confidence that their support will remain strong. Matt has my support.
— Mary Hubbard (@4thhubbard) September 11, 2026
Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg has returned as CEO only two days after the company’s board placed him on paid leave, marking an abrupt reversal in a highly unusual leadership dispute at the parent company of WordPress.com, Tumblr and Beeper.
WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard publicly confirmed Mullenweg’s reinstatement after Mullenweg told Automattic employees that he was back in the chief executive role.
The episode began when Mullenweg told employees that CFO Mark Davies and members of Automattic’s board had moved to place him on paid leave. The board also voted to install Davies as interim CEO, while Mullenweg remained a director.
Two days later, Mullenweg told employees that the board was back in agreement and that he had regained control of the company.
Davies’ Slack account was subsequently deactivated, while Mullenweg reportedly removed administrator privileges from Automattic’s Slack workspace as the company worked through the leadership dispute.
The rapid sequence of events raises broader questions about Automattic’s governance structure and the balance of authority between its founder, executives and directors. Automattic is one of the most influential companies in the open-web ecosystem.
The leadership changes follows a period of heightened attention around Mullenweg and the WordPress ecosystem, including disputes involving commercial companies built around the open-source WordPress platform.
