Has very little to do with the current brou-ha-ha, but I just realised its “Automattic” because his name is “Matt”. It’s like a veil over the world has been lifted.
That’s fast! It usually takes me decades, if ever, to figure out this stuff. One of the downsides being slightly autistic and taking everything too literal
Y combinator helped people notice it when they invested in a company called Automatic https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/automatic However now that it's been acquired that reminder of Automattic not being named Automatic is gone.
Just when we (the WP community) thought things were settling down and cooler heads might be prevailing... this happens. Uhg, not great for someone who has invested over 15 years into building with WP and does (paid) business with an Automattic company.
Changing jobs can be rough or maybe even impossible in this job market. I'm sure there are many there that are not aligned with Matt, but just need the steady paycheck. Same was true after Elon took over twitter.
Applying the word "impossible" to leaving a white collar job seems like a stretch. Also the buyout was almost 2 years ago now, anyone still there must be either in dire financial straits or quite commited.
That's until you find yourself in this job market and you realize now how stupid the digital creation job market and overall jobs are. Once you get laid you are now you're in a pile of 100 other applicants equally qualified vying for the same job and then hundreds of thousands who can all type to Ai to do a job that once required knowledge & skill.
What is it about Automattic's structure that lets Matt stay in control? Even Travis got ousted at Uber, and he was the primary founder. Is the company set up in a way that makes removing Matt very difficult?
Davies was supposedly the one who originally cooked up the whole extortion scheme against major players in the WP space. WPE was just the first target of many that were planned. Not that Matt is absolved in any way, but it'll be interesting to see what falls out if and when he throws Davies under the bus.
It would have been just a matter of time before he displayed his power with the nonprofit and wordpress.com which he controls personally, independently of the Automattic board. Maybe that is part of why the board gave him his control of Automattic back so quickly.
> WordPress founder and a key advocate for the open source community
This should probably say self appointed advocate. He really hasn't advocated for much beyond collecting payments to Automattic.
> Mullenweg responded to our inquiry, saying a blog post is forthcoming. When it dropped, it was about him buying a houseboat.
Has very little to do with the current brou-ha-ha, but I just realised its “Automattic” because his name is “Matt”. It’s like a veil over the world has been lifted.
Someone made the same comment in the thread from a few days back. Yeah, it was the first time I realized it as well.
That’s fast! It usually takes me decades, if ever, to figure out this stuff. One of the downsides being slightly autistic and taking everything too literal
[delayed]
Hasnt automattic been around for a decade?
Two decades. It was founded in 2005
At least his egotrips make a bit more sense after you realise it.
It feels like I see this comment in every single Automattic thread on HN. :)
Y combinator helped people notice it when they invested in a company called Automatic https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/automatic However now that it's been acquired that reminder of Automattic not being named Automatic is gone.
Just when we (the WP community) thought things were settling down and cooler heads might be prevailing... this happens. Uhg, not great for someone who has invested over 15 years into building with WP and does (paid) business with an Automattic company.
This must be exhausting for the Automattic staff who just want to get on with their jobs.
Anyone who wanted to get on with their jobs would have taken one of the buyouts. Everyone who still works there has to be committed to Matt.
Changing jobs can be rough or maybe even impossible in this job market. I'm sure there are many there that are not aligned with Matt, but just need the steady paycheck. Same was true after Elon took over twitter.
Applying the word "impossible" to leaving a white collar job seems like a stretch. Also the buyout was almost 2 years ago now, anyone still there must be either in dire financial straits or quite commited.
That's until you find yourself in this job market and you realize now how stupid the digital creation job market and overall jobs are. Once you get laid you are now you're in a pile of 100 other applicants equally qualified vying for the same job and then hundreds of thousands who can all type to Ai to do a job that once required knowledge & skill.
> Once you get laid you are now you're in a pile of 100 other applicants equally qualified
I'm assuming there should be an "off" after "laid"...
Only 100? Those are good odds in the current market...
or they just love wordpress, the product, so much, and believe in it fully. lol
What is it about Automattic's structure that lets Matt stay in control? Even Travis got ousted at Uber, and he was the primary founder. Is the company set up in a way that makes removing Matt very difficult?
He controls roughly 84% of the share-stakeholder votes.
Discussion on the ouster: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49636283
I'm just glad to have my last projects off of Wordpress to get to no longer care about drama at Automattic that seems to never end.
Most surprising in this article is the vibrant HDR magenta circle on Matt’s Twitter.
i'm gonna wait to hear it from the people who were saying yesterday they were in control if that's ok
> As of yet, no one at Automattic has heard a confirmation from the board. Mark Davies’ Slack account was also deactivated, sources said.
mhm, ok.
Davies was supposedly the one who originally cooked up the whole extortion scheme against major players in the WP space. WPE was just the first target of many that were planned. Not that Matt is absolved in any way, but it'll be interesting to see what falls out if and when he throws Davies under the bus.
When the CEO becomes a diva, the company has lost the plot.
Doesn't he control 84% of the voting stock or something? I'm curious how a board could even oust him in the first place. Or so he claims.
The ability to appoint a board member doesn't mean you get to control their every decision. Nor is their fiduciary duty just one shareholder.
Of course usually hand-picked boards don't go against their benefactor, and they're not keeping their seats.
That they did in this case says something about just how bad the situation will be.
Does Matt own >50%? If so, the board is irrelevant. If not, I assume he would've been gone long ago.
Damn it hasn't even been a week.
It would have been just a matter of time before he displayed his power with the nonprofit and wordpress.com which he controls personally, independently of the Automattic board. Maybe that is part of why the board gave him his control of Automattic back so quickly.
[dead]
Is it perhaps time to ackowledge that boards where everyone is buddies can't actually do their jobs, yet they get paid obscene amounts of money?