159 employees leave Automattic as dispute between CEO and WP Engine escalates

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg said Thursday that 159 employees (about 8.4% of the workforce) had accepted a severance package the company offered to those concerned with its focus on WordPress and its handling of the web hosting dispute -Provider WP Engine did not agree.

In a blog post, Mullenweg said the package offered $30,000 or six months' salary, whichever was greater, but the employees who accepted it would not be eligible for rehire at Automattic.

Nearly 80% of the people who accepted the offer worked in the company's ecosystem/WordPress division, with the rest working in Automattic's Cosmos businesses, consisting of apps such as Pocket Casts, Day One, Tumblr and Cloudup.

Mullenweg, who co-developed WordPress and is arguably the face of the open source project, tried to put a positive spin on the announcement, writing that the company “has decided to design the most generous buyout package possible.” is possible, we called it an “alignment offer.”

“HR added some additional details to sweeten the deal. We wanted to make it as enticing as possible,” he wrote, later adding: “159 people accepted the offer, 8.4% of the company, the other 91.6% gave up $126 million in potential severance pay to stay!”

“It was an emotional rollercoaster of a week. The day you hire someone, don't expect them to resign or be fired [indicating a person who joined two days before the deadline took the offer]; They hope for a long and mutually beneficial relationship. “Every resignation hurts a little,” wrote Mullenweg.

Mullenweg and Automattic have been locked in a battle with WP Engine for nearly two weeks, with the CEO calling WP Engine a “cancer on WordPress,” accusing it of improperly using the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks, and banning the company from access to Open Source resources from WordPress.org.

Both WP Engine and Automattic have sent each other cease and desist letters. And WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Automattic and Mullenweg earlier Thursday, accusing the company and its CEO of “abuse of power” and extortion and saying the WordPress co-creator had conflicts of interest in handling WordPress as an open source project.

Automattic has so far declared all of WP Engine's claims to be unfounded. “I stayed up last night reading WP Engine's complaint, trying to find a reason for it somewhere. This is without merit and we look forward to the federal court reviewing their lawsuit,” the company’s legal representative, Neal Katyal, said in a blog post.

In recent days, several people on X have suggested that a severance offer is circulating among Automattic employees. Mullenweg also allegedly sent a direct message to a former employee who posted about the offer, accusing her of attacking the company and him.

Today, some Automattic employees who chose to keep their jobs posted messages in support of the company and Mullenweg.

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