From The Verge · Jay Peters · · 1m 20s
Mullenweg is back at Automattic after 48 hours
Ousted on Wednesday, reinstated by Friday, and joking about coup attempts on X.
In brief
Ousted on Wednesday, reinstated by Friday, and joking about coup attempts on X. Automattic's board reversed its own CEO removal in two days, and Mullenweg came back with the Slack admin list cleared. Originally reported by The Verge.
Back in the chair
Two days after the board put him on paid leave, Matt Mullenweg told staff in Slack that he had been reinstated as CEO of Automattic.
The CFO conspiracy claim
On Wednesday morning Mullenweg told employees that CFO Mark Davies had conspired with the board, which voted to sideline him. He says he voted against it.
“conspired”
Davies was named interim CEO
The board voted for Davies to take over on an interim basis, with Mullenweg staying on as a board member. An Automattic spokesperson confirmed the appointment to The Verge.
The board flipped back
By Thursday night Mullenweg said the board was "back in agreement" and that he was in control, calling the past 48 hours something he hoped was mostly a misunderstanding.
“A lot happened in the past 48 hours that we need to sort out”
Slack tells the real story
Davies' Slack account was deactivated, and TechCrunch reports Mullenweg removed every other admin from Automattic's Slack.
Then he joked about it
Friday afternoon he posted that anyone without a coup attempt every few years is not hiring strong enough leaders, reckoning this was his fifth. He also blogged about buying a houseboat.
“If you don't have a coup attempt every few years, you're not hiring strong enough leaders”
The essence
Automattic's board reversed its own CEO removal in two days, and Mullenweg came back with the Slack admin list cleared.
