Automattic begins layoffs at WordPress.com and enterprise arm after board turmoil

Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, WooCommerce and Tumblr, has begun laying off staff, and people inside the company are bracing for further cuts, according to TechCrunch.

The reductions have unfolded over at least the past week, hitting the company's communications team, its social team, WordPress.com, and its WordPress VIP enterprise business.

Cuts follow board upheaval and executive departures

The job losses come during a turbulent stretch for Automattic. In September, the company's board attempted to remove CEO Matt Mullenweg; the effort failed and led to a complete turnover of the board, TechCrunch reports. Several executives have departed since, including the chief financial officer, the interim CFO and the chief legal officer.

Megan Fox, Automattic's director of communications, wrote about her departure on LinkedIn last week, calling it an “unexpected end” and saying her role had been eliminated.

Jeremy Klaperman, who was serving as interim CFO, left earlier this month, only weeks after the board shakeup. After TechCrunch reported the departure, Mullenweg suggested on X that Klaperman may have been “offended” by the company's decision to seek external candidates for the role — although TechCrunch heard that Mullenweg had internally asked Klaperman to reconsider leaving.

CEO's handling of the departures draws criticism

TechCrunch also viewed screenshots showing that Mullenweg shared personal information about one of the recently departed executives in the company's internal Slack. The post concerned a health matter affecting that person's spouse and claimed the company was not providing much-needed COBRA insurance, with the executive threatening to sue over it. Mullenweg also shared that his own fiancée had been affected by the same condition. Employees told TechCrunch they were shocked that the CEO would post something so private in that setting.

Asked about the layoffs last week, Mullenweg said the terminations were not above the company's normal numbers. When TechCrunch followed up about the growing total, he said he was “mostly focused on PHP,” referring to the PHP security issue hitting the internet, which he has treated as the priority.

More cuts expected ahead of a June debt renegotiation

Beyond the communications, social and enterprise teams, sources have told TechCrunch over recent weeks that employees in marketing and product roles at WordPress.com have also been let go.

Automattic's About page lists 1,397 employees. Insiders told TechCrunch that the plan is likely to spread the layoffs out over the months ahead, in the hope of improving the company's fourth-quarter revenue figures ahead of a debt renegotiation that comes up in June.

Why it matters

Automattic operates a significant slice of the web's publishing and commerce infrastructure through WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr and WordPress VIP, so instability there extends beyond the company's own walls. The sequence of events — a failed board attempt to oust the CEO, a fully replaced board, the exit of three senior finance and legal executives, and now rolling layoffs — points to serious organizational and financial strain, with a debt renegotiation looming in June.

Enterprise customers and the wider WordPress ecosystem will be watching whether cost cuts begin to affect product development and support. The reported handling of departing executives, including the sharing of private health information in an internal channel, also raises governance questions about leadership at a company that sits at the foundation of much of the web.