Over 150 Automattic employees resign after 'most generous buyout package possible'

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has offered a generous buyout package to employees amid internal disagreements, leading to the resignation of 159 workers.

The San Francisco-based tech company, best known for its WordPress.com platform, has been embroiled in recent tension, particularly over Mullenweg's handling of a public dispute with competitor WP Engine.

In a blog post on Thursday, Mullenweg revealed that a "good chunk" of employees disagreed with him and the company's recent actions.

"So, we decided to design the most generous buyout package possible. We called it an Alignment Offer: if you resigned before 20:00 UTC on Thursday, October 3, 2024, you would receive $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever is higher," Mullenweg said in the blog post.

"HR added some extra details to sweeten the deal; we wanted to make it as enticing as possible."

A total of 159 employees took the offer, representing 8.4% of the organisation, according to the CEO. By division, 79.2% of the employees who resigned were in the company's Ecosystem businesses, while 18.2% were from the company's Cosmos.

"[Eighteen] people made over 200k/yr! One person started two days before the deadline. [Four] people took it then changed their minds," Mullenweg said.

Employees who resigned would lose access to Automattic that evening, and they also wouldn't be able to come back as boomerang employees.

Mullenweg described the recent events as an "emotional roller coaster."

"The day you hire someone, you aren't expecting them to resign or be fired, you're hoping for a long and mutually beneficial relationship. Every resignation stings a bit," he said.

"However, now, I feel much lighter. I'm grateful and thankful for all the people who took the offer, and even more excited to work with those who turned down $126M to stay."

Automattic, WP Engine tensions

The buyout offer follows weeks of tension stemming from Automattic's conflict with WP Engine, another company that helps users build websites using WordPress software.

In September, Mullenweg called WP Engine a "cancer to WordPress" after criticising the host for disabling users' ability to see and track the revision history for every post.

This remark prompted an exchange of cease-and-desist letters from both camps, which led to WP Engine getting temporarily prohibited from accessing the resources of WordPress.org.

The tension eventually escalated to a lawsuit in October, filed by WP Engine against Automattic and Mullenweg for alleged abuse of power.

"Matt Mullenweg's conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust," WP Engine told TechCrunch.

"WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community."

But Automattic dismissed the lawsuit as "meritless."

"Their complaint is flawed, start to finish. We vehemently deny WP Engine's allegations—which are gross mischaracterisations of reality—and reserve all of our rights," it said in a statement.

"Automattic is confident in our legal position, and will vigorously litigate against this absurd filing, as well as pursue all remedies against WP Engine."