Automattic sends Matt Mullenweg on paid leave against his will

Automattic 's board of directors has placed founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave against his will , with CFO Mark Davies taking over as interim CEO. The reason for the move was not disclosed, but it follows years of litigation, layoffs, employee departures and controversy surrounding Mullenweg's leadership.

On Wednesday, Mullenweg posted a message in a Slack channel visible to all employees, in which he said that the company's CFO, Mark Davies, had "conspired" with other board members — Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider and Sue Decker — to vote in favor of granting paid leave.

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The message read:

“And the big news: I will not be able to attend the meeting tomorrow. @Mark Davies conspired with @Ann Dunwoody, @Toni and @Sue Decker behind my back and voted to place me on paid leave. I voted no. I wish Mark and all of you the best. For clarification, @Mark Davies was voted in as interim CEO. I made the decision 50 minutes before the meeting started and repeatedly asked for time to review it with independent legal counsel — even if it was just a few hours. My request was denied.”

A Slack message to the WordPress.org open source community from project executive director Mary Hubbard also confirmed Mullenweg's change in status at the commercial company.

However, Hubbard said that WordPress.org is not affected. “Matt remains the leader of the WordPress project and I remain the CEO of WordPress. Our teams, priorities, and work continue as normal,” she wrote.

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Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.