Automattic Board Rebuild
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg rebuilds board following a failed ouster attempt.
Anonymous
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has formed a new board weeks after the previous board tried to place him on leave and remove him from control; he regained authority about 33 hours later and dismissed or accepted the resignations of directors involved. The new board includes authors Hugh Howey and Amy Chan, along with IRL co-founders Henry Khatachryan and Krutal Desai. IRL shut down after an investigation found that most of its users were bots, and its co-founders later became involved in lawsuits with SoftBank and other investors. New advisers include Jaime Waydo, Matt Van Horn, and Hiten Shah. The upheaval also brought board departures and the exits of CFO Mark Davies and General Counsel Andy Missan, as Automattic continues to face a separate dispute with hosting provider WP Engine over trademarks and contributions to the open-source WordPress project.
Key Points
1
Mullenweg said shareholder votes gave him 84% of the company’s voting power, which he used to regain control after 33 hours and 20 minutes.
2
The board departures included Toni Schneider and Sue Decker, who left, and Anne Dunwoody, whom Mullenweg removed.
3
After regaining control, Mullenweg changed Automattic’s legal advisers amid the WP Engine dispute.
4
The article says the reasons the previous board sought to remove Mullenweg have not been publicly explained.
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