Automattic

American web development company

Not to be confused with Automatic.

Automattic Inc.

Company type| Private
Industry|

* Internet
* Web Development
* Software

Founded| 2005; 20 years ago (2005), in the United States
Founder| Matt Mullenweg
Headquarters| San Francisco, California, US

Key people

| Matt Mullenweg (CEO, president)
Products|

* Akismet
* Gravatar
* WooCommerce
* WordPress.com
* & others

Number of employees

| 1,482 (2025[1])
ASN| 2635
Website| automattic.com

Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company most notable for WordPress.com and its contributions to the WordPress system. The company was founded in 2005.[2]

Automattic's brands and products include WordPress.com, Akismet, Gravatar, BuddyPress,[3] Simplenote, WooCommerce,[4] Atavist,[5] Tumblr,[6] Parse.ly,[7] Day One,[8] Pocket Casts,[9] and Beeper.[10]

## History

[edit]

Matt Mullenweg co-founded the open-source blogging platform WordPress in 2003. Two years later, he founded Automattic to monetize the platform.[11]

Initially the company developed commercial products related to WordPress, including WordPress.com for WordPress-managed hosting and the spam filtering service Akismet.[12] Toni Schneider, a former executive at Yahoo, became chief executive officer (CEO) in 2006.[12][13] Automattic acquired Gravatar in 2007, then IntenseDebate and PollDaddy in 2008.[14][15]

Automattic transferred the WordPress source code and trademarks to the WordPress Foundation in 2010 and it also acquired the prompt generator Plinky.[16][17] In 2011, the company created Jetpack, a WordPress extension.[15]

Automattic's remote working culture was the topic of a participative journalism project by Scott Berkun, resulting in the 2013 book The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work.[18]

On November 21, 2016, Automattic managed the launch and development of the .blog gTLD.[19]

The former office of Automattic at 140 Hawthorne Street in San Francisco in July 2017 (since closed)

In 2017, Automattic announced that it would close its San Francisco office, which had served as an optional co-working space for its employees, alongside similar spaces near Portland, Maine and in Cape Town, South Africa.[20]

In August 2019, Automattic closed a deal with Verizon Media to acquire Tumblr.[21] In September of the same year, Automattic announced a Series D funding round of $300 million from Salesforce, increasing its valuation to US$3 billion.[22]

Ending in February 2021, Automattic brought in US$288 million from a primary funding round. Subsequently, the company participated in a stock buyback, with the company valued at US$7.5 billion.[23]

In February 2024, it was reported that the company would begin selling user data from Tumblr and WordPress.com to Midjourney and OpenAI.[24]

On April 2, 2025, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in the layoff of 16% of its workforce, or 281 positions.[25]

### WP Engine dispute and lawsuit

[edit]

Main article: WP Engine § WordPress dispute and lawsuit

Towards the end of September 2024, Automattic was involved in a controversy with WP Engine, in which Automattic claimed WP Engine used the WordPress trademark in a way that confused consumers. One of the main claims made is that WP Engine does not pay trademark royalties to the WordPress Foundation.[26] Over 8 percent of Automattic's staff resigned after CEO Matt Mullenweg offered $30,000 or six months' salary as severance to those who disagreed with his stance.[27] The next month, Mullenweg made another offer, this time of nine months' salary.[28]

## Corporate affairs

[edit]

As of December 2024[update], Automattic's board consisted of the following directors:[29]

* Matt Mullenweg (founder and CEO of Automattic)
* Phil Black (co-founder of True Ventures venture capital firm)
* Toni Schneider (former CEO of Automattic, 2006–2014)
* Ann E. Dunwoody (retired U.S. army general)
* Susan Decker (former President of Yahoo! Inc.)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "About Us". Automattic. July 23, 2005. Archived from the original on December 11, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
2. ^ Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on September 30, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
3. ^ Mullenweg, Matt (September 9, 2010). "A New Home for the WordPress Trademark". ma.tt. Archived from the original on December 9, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
4. ^ Forrester, Mark (May 19, 2015). "WooThemes Joins Automattic". The WooCommerce Blog. Archived from the original on November 29, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
5. ^ "Automattic, Parent Company of WordPress.com, Acquires Atavist Publishing Platform and Award-Winning Magazine". PR Newswire. June 21, 2018. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
6. ^ Gooding, Sarah (August 13, 2019). "Automattic Acquires Tumblr, Plans to Rebuild the Backend Powered by WordPress". wptavern.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
7. ^ Mullenweg, Matt (February 8, 2021). "Parse.ly & Automattic". ma.tt. Archived from the original on October 13, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
8. ^ Perez, Sarah (June 14, 2021). "WordPress.com owner Automattic acquires journaling app Day One". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 10, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
9. ^ Budelli, Eli (July 16, 2021). "Popular Podcast App Pocket Casts Joins Automattic". WordPress.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
10. ^ Pierce, David (April 9, 2024). "Beeper was just acquired by Automattic, which has big plans for the future of messaging". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 25, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
11. ^ Sawers, Paul (September 22, 2024). "Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a 'cancer to WordPress' and urges community to switch providers". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
12. ^ a b Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
13. ^ Farr, Christina (January 13, 2014). "WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg to take over Automattic as CEO". VentureBeat. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
14. ^ Burns, Matt (August 19, 2013). "GitHub Co-Founder And CEO Tom Preston-Werner To Speak At Disrupt SF". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
15. ^ a b Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
16. ^ Brodkin, Jon (October 3, 2024). "Automattic demanded web host pay $32M annually for using WordPress trademark". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
17. ^ Rao, Leena (June 25, 2010). "Automattic Buys Up Thing Labs' Plinky To Help Bloggers Overcome Writer's Block". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
18. ^ Scott Berkun (September 10, 2013). The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-66063-8.
19. ^ "About Knock Knock, WHOIS There". .blog. April 13, 2016. Archived from the original on September 30, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
20. ^ Staley, Oliver (June 12, 2017). "Wordpress's owner is closing its San Francisco office because its employees never show up". Quartz. Archived from the original on November 13, 2024. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
21. ^ Radulovic, Petrana (August 12, 2019). "Tumblr sold off yet again, adult content bans to be relaxed, but are being discussed". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 30, 2024. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
22. ^ Dillet, Romain (September 19, 2019). "Automattic raises $300 million at $3 billion valuation from Salesforce Ventures". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on November 13, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
23. ^ Mullenweg, Matt (August 16, 2021). "Funding, Buyback, and Hiring". ma.tt. Archived from the original on December 9, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
24. ^ Cole, Samantha (February 27, 2024). "Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users' Data to Train AI Tools". 404 Media. Archived from the original on December 1, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
25. ^ Perez, Sarah (April 2, 2025). "WordPress maker Automattic lays off 16% of staff". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
26. ^ Mehta, Ivan (September 26, 2024). "The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 11, 2024. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
27. ^ Roth, Emma (October 4, 2024). "WordPress co-founder is paying employees to leave if they disagree with him". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 27, 2024. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
28. ^ Cole, Samantha (October 17, 2024). "Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic Over WordPress Chaos". 404 Media. Archived from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
29. ^ "Board of Directors". Automattic. September 25, 2018. Archived from the original on December 6, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Automattic at Wikimedia Commons

* Official website
* Automattic companies grouped at OpenCorporates

* v
* t
* e

Automattic

Websites|

* Tumblr
* WordPress.com

Software and services|

* Akismet
* Beeper
* BuddyPress
* Day One
* Gravatar
* Pocket Casts
* Simplenote
* WooCommerce
* WordPress

Related people|

* John Maeda
* Matt Mullenweg

* v
* t
* e

Tumblr

Owners|

* Yahoo! (2013–2017)
* Verizon Communications (2017–2019)
* Oath Inc.
* Automattic (2019–present)

People|

* Marco Arment
* Amanda Brennan
* David Karp
* Matt Mullenweg

Culture|

* Boneghazi
* DashCon
* Don't talk to me or my son ever again
* Goncharov
* None Pizza with Left Beef
* Seapunk
* Shipping discourse
* Soft grunge
* Spiders Georg
* Tumblr Sexyman

Blogs|

* Cursed image
* David Olshanetsky
* The Hawkeye Initiative
* McMansion Hell
* Yo, Is This Racist?

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Japan

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