Automattic, the parent company to WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, and others, has started layoffs, and insiders tell us they’re looking for more cuts.
For at least the past week, the cuts have affected its communications team, social team, WordPress.com, and its VIP Enterprise business.
The departures represent more turmoil at Automattic, whose team is still reeling from the board’s failed attempt to oust CEO Matt Mullenweg in September, which resulted in a full board turnover and other exec departures, including its CFO, interim CFO, and chief legal officer.
Automattic’s communications director, Megan Fox, posted about her departure on LinkedIn last week, saying the move was an “unexpected end” and that her role had been “eliminated.”
Meanwhile, after TechCrunch reported that Automattic’s interim chief financial officer Jeremy Klaperman had left earlier this month, just weeks after joining the board, Mullenweg posted on X suggesting that Klaperman may have been “insulted” by the company’s decision to seek external candidates to fill the role. (Internally, however, Mullenweg asked Klaperman to reconsider the termination, we heard.)
At one point, Mullenweg also shared personal information about one of the recently departed execs in the company’s internal Slack, according to screenshots viewed by TechCrunch. The post related to a health matter affecting the person’s wife, and alleged that the company was not providing the person with required COBRA insurance. Mullenweg said the executive threatened to sue over this. Mullenweg also shared that his own fiancee has been affected by the same health condition. Some employees told us they were shocked that the CEO would share something so private and personal in such a forum.
During this month, TechCrunch heard from various sources that members of the Automattic team were also let go, including those in marketing and product at WordPress.com.
Reached for comment on the layoffs last week, Mullenweg said the terminations were not above his normal numbers. Asked Wednesday about the growing total, Mullenweg said today he is “mostly focused on PHP.” (He posted on X about the PHP security issue hitting the internet, which takes priority.)
The company’s About page lists the total number of staff at 1,397, but insiders tell us that the plan is likely to spread out the layoffs over the coming months, in hopes of improving Automatic’s Q4 earnings numbers ahead of a debt renegotiation coming up in June.
In a statement shared with TechCrunch, Automattic spokesperson Chenda Ngak said “We are reinforcing our organizational changes to be more generous with layoffs and allow more time with each Automattic.”
Updated after publication with Automattic’s statement.
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