Automattic names new board with Hugh Howey and IRL co-founders after failed CEO ouster

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr and WooCommerce, has a new board of directors, roughly two weeks after its previous board tried and failed to push CEO Matt Mullenweg out of his job. According to TechCrunch, which learned the details of the changes, the new lineup was announced to employees on Friday in the company's internal Slack announcements channel, ending days of guessing after Mullenweg posted about a board meeting without saying who was in the room.

An unconventional board

The new directors, as reported by TechCrunch, are:

• Hugh Howey, the best-selling science fiction writer behind the "Silo" series
• Amy Chan, author of "Breakup Bootcamp," who recently reshared Mullenweg's post about Automattic's AI site builder Spacefast
• Henry Khatachryan, an IRL co-founder whom Mullenweg described as "a founder and builder"
• Krutal Desai, who co-founded the social app IRL alongside Khatachryan

TechCrunch also notes the history hanging over the IRL connection: the app shut down after investigations concluded that nearly all of its users were bots, and its co-founders — including CEO Abraham Shafi — later sued SoftBank and other investors after SoftBank had sued over securities fraud.

A set of advisers has joined as well, according to TechCrunch: Curio Studio co-founder Jaime Waydo, June co-founder Matt Van Horn and KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah.

How the power struggle unfolded

Earlier in September, according to TechCrunch, the previous board voted to place Mullenweg on paid leave in an attempt to remove him from the board. He retook control roughly 33 hours later — exactly "33 hours and 20 minutes," per the company — and removed or accepted the resignations of the directors involved, describing the move on X as a "coup attempt."

In an internal message quoted by TechCrunch, Mullenweg said the directors had formed a special committee and acted "without advance warning," and that he was denied even a short extension to consult independent legal counsel. "I took the steps necessary to reverse that action," he wrote. "I am back and fully in charge of the company."

The departures were extensive. Toni Schneider, Automattic's founding CEO and currently CEO of Bluesky, resigned from the board. Mullenweg removed Gen. Ann Dunwoody, and board member Sue Decker also resigned. In addition, TechCrunch confirmed with sources that CFO Mark Davies — who had been lined up as interim CEO — and Chief Legal Officer Andy Missan were let go.

Mullenweg's ability to overturn the board rested on his voting power: he controls 84% of the vote, as he stated at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. In the announcement to staff, TechCrunch reports, he wrote that "for purposes of Delaware law, I am the CEO, President, Treasurer, and Secretary," and described it as "the most interesting board meeting in a decade (since the Woo acquisition)."

The board has never publicly explained why it tried to remove him. Mullenweg, for his part, joked about the episode on X: "If you don't have a coup attempt every few years, you're not hiring strong enough leaders."

The WP Engine backdrop

Mullenweg also replaced Automattic's legal counsel after regaining control, retaining Susman Godfrey LLP as litigation counsel to defend the company in its ongoing legal fight. TechCrunch raises the open question of whether the boardroom conflict is connected to that dispute with hosting provider WP Engine, which centres on trademark issues and claims that WP Engine contributes too little to the WordPress open source project. Court filings show WP Engine's legal team accused Mullenweg of destroying evidence in July.

Automattic told TechCrunch it hoped to have a comment soon.

Why it matters

Automattic sits on critical web infrastructure: WordPress powers an enormous share of the web, and the company also operates Tumblr, WooCommerce, WordPress.com and other properties. Governance turbulence at the top is therefore not just internal drama — it affects an ecosystem of publishers, developers, plugin vendors and enterprise customers.

The outcome also concentrates power dramatically. One person now holds four officer titles, controls a supermajority of votes, and has replaced the directors and executives who moved against him — while the reasons behind the original attempt remain unknown. With no independent counterweight left in place, and an unresolved high-stakes lawsuit in the background, anyone depending on Automattic's platforms is left watching a single individual's decisions shape the company's direction.