159 Employees leave WordPress founder's company after extortion lawsuit
Matt Mullenweg faces turmoil from a lawsuit by WP Engine, leading to 159 employees accepting severance. The conflict involves accusations of extortion and trademark violations, highlighting internal and external strife.
Read original article
Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, is facing significant turmoil following a lawsuit from WP Engine, which accuses him of "abuse of power, extortion, and greed." In response to the lawsuit and internal dissent among employees, Mullenweg offered a severance package to staff, resulting in 159 employees, or 8.4% of the workforce, accepting the buy-out. Most of those who left were from the Ecosystem/WordPress division, while others were from teams working on applications like Tumblr. Mullenweg framed the situation positively, noting that the majority of employees chose to stay, forgoing a total of $126 million in potential severance. The conflict escalated as Mullenweg labeled WP Engine a "cancer to WordPress," accusing them of trademark violations and refusing to pay licensing fees. WP Engine countered with allegations against Mullenweg, including demands for a percentage of their revenue and various legal violations. Mullenweg dismissed these claims as meritless and expressed eagerness for the federal court's review of the lawsuit.
- 159 employees left Automattic after a severance offer amid a lawsuit.
- The lawsuit involves accusations of extortion and trademark violations between Mullenweg and WP Engine.
- Mullenweg claims the majority of employees chose to remain with the company despite the turmoil.
- WP Engine has countered with its own allegations against Mullenweg.
- The situation highlights significant internal and external conflicts within the WordPress ecosystem.
Related
WordPress Drama: From the Sidelines
Tensions between WP Engine and Automattic escalated into a legal dispute after Matt Mullenweg criticized WP Engine's contributions, leading to revoked API access and concerns about WordPress's future.
If WordPress is to survive, Matt Mullenweg must be removed
Matt Mullenweg faces criticism for pressuring WP Engine after a rejected licensing proposal, with calls for his removal from leadership due to concerns over ethical conduct affecting the WordPress community.
The messy WordPress drama, explained
Matt Mullenweg criticized WP Engine for exploiting the WordPress ecosystem, leading to legal threats and access restrictions for its customers, while the community remains divided over the implications for WordPress's future.
Mullenweg threatens corporate takeover of WP Engine
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has revoked an 8% licensing deal with WP Engine, criticizing its contributions to WordPress and hinting at a takeover, while WP Engine has responded with legal action.
159 employees are leaving Automattic as CEO’s fight with WP Engine escalates
Automattic has seen 159 employees leave after accepting a severance package amid rising tensions with WP Engine, which has led to legal disputes and mixed reactions from remaining staff.
3 commentsThere might be a valid trademark dispute or legitimate concerns about WPEngine not contributing enough to open source. Or, maybe it’s simply about money and WordPress.com dropping the ball for the last decade. Ask yourself, what do you really think this is about?
The truth is, no one in the industry takes WordPress.com seriously for professional sites, and likely never will. It's often seen as a platform for simple blogs or taking advantage of users who don't know better where to go.
Agencies and developers, for instance, prefer to build custom sites using WordPress.org and then either self-hosting or go with WPEngine.
From the beginning, WPEngine has offered essential features like server-side backup snapshots (not relying on subpar plugins), along with Git, SFTP, and database access. In contrast, WordPress.com only introduced similar features relatively recently it seems.
The WordPress.com service has always completely missed the mark for what hardcore WordPress people want, and it’s comically essentially trying to finally now become what WPEngine offers today.
Meanwhile, WordPress.org has always been a bit of a mess for organizations to host, and WPEngine provided super peace of mind by solving those pain points. Literally the main reason for WPEngine's success is because of broken .org updates and easy backups - not tricked/confused developers. The irony is epic.
As for the trademark issues, maybe there's some truth over usage. But who’s really responsible for the fact that WordPress.org sites and people aren't opting for WordPress.com?
People don't go there not because they're confused but because it's just a deficient offering. Completely asleep at the wheel for the last 10 years.
Related
WordPress Drama: From the Sidelines
Tensions between WP Engine and Automattic escalated into a legal dispute after Matt Mullenweg criticized WP Engine's contributions, leading to revoked API access and concerns about WordPress's future.
If WordPress is to survive, Matt Mullenweg must be removed
Matt Mullenweg faces criticism for pressuring WP Engine after a rejected licensing proposal, with calls for his removal from leadership due to concerns over ethical conduct affecting the WordPress community.
The messy WordPress drama, explained
Matt Mullenweg criticized WP Engine for exploiting the WordPress ecosystem, leading to legal threats and access restrictions for its customers, while the community remains divided over the implications for WordPress's future.
Mullenweg threatens corporate takeover of WP Engine
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has revoked an 8% licensing deal with WP Engine, criticizing its contributions to WordPress and hinting at a takeover, while WP Engine has responded with legal action.
159 employees are leaving Automattic as CEO’s fight with WP Engine escalates
Automattic has seen 159 employees leave after accepting a severance package amid rising tensions with WP Engine, which has led to legal disputes and mixed reactions from remaining staff.