Automattic Cuts Staff as Governance Turmoil Deepens
Automattic has begun layoffs that, over at least the week before October 21, 2026, reached its communications team, its social team, WordPress.com, and its VIP enterprise business, according to TechCrunch.
The cuts follow a governance crisis that began in September. On September 9, Automattic's board voted to place CEO Matt Mullenweg on paid leave. An internal company email, reported by Yahoo Finance, named CFO Mark Davies to lead the company as interim CEO. As of September 16, the board had not explained the decision. TechCrunch reported on September 14 that the board was out after a failed attempt to oust Mullenweg, and the episode resulted in a complete board turnover.
A separate TechCrunch report on September 16 said the interim CEO and the company's legal chief signed reciprocal severance agreements during the brief ouster. Severance agreements set the payments an executive receives when leaving, and reciprocal ones run in both directions.
Executive turnover has followed. Automattic's CFO, its interim CFO, and its Chief Legal Officer have all departed. Jeremy Klaperman, the interim CFO, left in early October after less than a month in the role, weeks after the board shakeup. TechCrunch reported the resignation on October 9. Megan Fox, the company's Director of Communications, also left in October. She said on LinkedIn that her role had been eliminated.
The departures have come with public and internal friction. Mullenweg posted on X that Klaperman may have been offended by Automattic's decision to seek external candidates for the CFO role. According to TechCrunch's sources, Mullenweg had internally asked Klaperman to reconsider his departure. Separately, screenshots viewed by TechCrunch show Mullenweg sharing personal health-related information about a recently departed executive in Automattic's internal Slack.
Mullenweg told TechCrunch that the recent terminations were not above the company's normal numbers. Automattic's About page lists total staff at 1,397 people. For comparison, the company announced a restructuring on April 2, 2025 that resulted in an approximately 16% workforce reduction, according to Automattic's announcement.
According to insiders, Automattic plans to spread the current layoffs over the coming months. The stated aim, per those insiders, is to improve fourth-quarter revenue ahead of a debt renegotiation due in June, meaning new repayment terms with its lenders. TechCrunch's sources also say that throughout October, members of the marketing and product teams at WordPress.com were let go.
The broader context here is that the staffing decisions are being made while the company's governance is still in flux. A debt renegotiation in June gives the current cost actions a concrete deadline, and a revenue target set for the fourth quarter gives them a near-term measure. Both put pressure on a company whose leadership structure, finance function, and legal function have all turned over within about six weeks.
For WordPress.com users and VIP enterprise customers, the practical questions are continuity of product development, support, and account management. Those are not yet answered. Staff on the affected teams, and anyone who depends on those functions, will be the first to see whether the planned reductions stay within the scope described so far.
In my view, the most important thing to watch is whether the spread-out plan holds. Phased cuts give a company room to protect core product work, but they also extend uncertainty for the people still employed and for customers who want to know which teams will be there next quarter. If the company can use the coming months to settle its finance and legal leadership and to focus its product roadmap, the reduction could leave a smaller organization with clearer lines of decision-making. Whether that happens depends on execution that is not yet visible.
