While the controversy between Automattic and WP Engine was unfolding, social media discussions surged about whether Automattic employees not agreeing with Matt were offered an ultimatum to quit and exit with a generous payout.
In response, Matt Mullenweg addressed the situation in a blog post titled Automattic Alignment. He has clarified that: “It became clear a good chunk of my Automattic colleagues disagreed with me and our actions. So we decided to design the most generous buy-out package possible, we called it an Alignment Offer: if you resigned before 20:00 UTC on Thursday, October 3, 2024, you would receive $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever is higher. But you’d lose access to Automattic that evening, and you wouldn’t be eligible to boomerang (what we call re-hires). HR added some extra details to sweeten the deal; we wanted to make it as enticing as possible.”
Matt revealed that 159 employees, representing 8.4% of the workforce, accepted the offer. Of these, 79.2% were part of Automattic’s Ecosystem businesses, while 18.2% came from Cosmos, working on apps like Pocket Casts, Day One, Tumblr, and Cloudup.
“It was an emotional roller coaster of a week. The day you hire someone you aren’t expecting them to resign or be fired, you’re hoping for a long and mutually beneficial relationship. Every resignation stings a bit.”, Matt added.
Automattic referred to this move as “a strategic realignment to better pursue our core values and operational goals.”
We remain deeply grateful to all our employees, past and present. For those who have chosen new paths, we sincerely wish them the best, and thank them for helping make Automattic what it is today. We emerge from this chapter with a renewed vigor and clarity in our mission.
– Automattic
159 People Accepted the Offer
In a surprising turn, the names of people leaving Automattic include Josepha Haden Chompsky, the Executive Director of the WordPress project. “While my next steps aren’t yet clear, I hope to never be too far from this community that taught me so much.”, she said.
Other notable departures include Naoka Takano (Open Source Project Manager), Daniel Walmsley (AI Engineer and Architect), Jeffrey Pearce (Team Lead) and Reyes Martínez (Communications Wrangler & WordPress Media Corps lead). Daniel Bachhuber (head of WordPress.com) also left but posted this in LinkedIn: “I believe in Matt. Leaving Automattic for other reasons. It’s a bummer, and I will miss everyone there.”
91.6% of Automatticians are Staying
Meanwhile, 91.6% of Automattic employees chose to stay, with many expressing support for Matt’s decisions on X.
It’s been heartbreaking to see so many great people leave
but I’m staying because there’s never been a more important time for the open source mission to succeed.
Here’s the latest from @photomatt on the why 159 folks have left @automattic
https://t.co/bDM9pFirWD
— Jamie Marsland – Head of WordPress YouTube
(@pootlepress) October 4, 2024
Community Response
As usual, the community remains divided, with some praising the offer’s generosity while others are worried.
I’m into WordPress for 15 years. 10 years professionally. This is the beginning of the end of WordPress, if the investors don’t get rid of you and don’t put someone reasonable in your place. Gutenberg is/was peanuts compared to this.
— Fool’s Tech
Ⓥ (@foolstechdev) October 4, 2024
As mentioned above, 79.2% of the people who left Automattic were working on WordPress.org projects. The Marketing Team again got the short end of the stick with WordPress Media Corps’s future in doubt due to Reyes Martínez’s resignation. The coming days will provide more clarity on the effects this development has on WordPress.
