Automattic offered employees another chance to quit – this time with nine months of severance pay

Days after 159 people accepted Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg’s offer of a six-month severance package for employees who wanted to leave, the company released a new offer late on Oct. 16 of a nine-month severance package. for anyone who resigned immediately. Employees had four hours to decide whether they wanted to accept the agreement.

In a Slack message seen by TechCrunch, Mullenweg posted that people who accepted the offer would lose access not only to Automattic, but also to WordPress.org. This effectively means that people who leave will not be able to contribute to the open source project – at least with their existing ID. This would also mean that they would be effectively banned from the WordPress community. News of the deal was previously reported by 404 Media.

In addition to being CEO of Automattic, Mullenweg also owns and controls the open source website WordPress.org.

Mullenweg gave just four hours’ notice and said people who wanted to accept the offer should send him a message: “I resign and would like to accept the 9-month buyout offer.”

“You don’t have to say any reason or anything else. I will reply ‘Thank you’. Automattic will accept your resignation, you will be able to keep your office supplies and your work laptop. You will lose access to Automattic and Worg,” said Mullenweg.

He said, “I think some people were sad that they missed the last window,” and then introduced this new short window.

Automattic had no comment on the story by press time. It is unclear whether any employees have accepted the new offer. The company’s headcount currently stands at 1,731, according to its website; a few hours ago it was 1,732.

The WordPress co-founder’s first offer was aimed at people who didn’t agree with his views on Automattic’s fight with hosting provider WP Engine. The first group of people leaving Automattic included some key people at the company, including the head of WordPress.com (Automattic’s commercial WordPress hosting arm), Daniel Bachhuber, head of programs and contributor experience Naoko Takano, the lead architect of IA, Daniel Walmsley and WordPress.org CEO Josepha Haden Chomphosy.

The battle began nearly a month ago after Mullenweg called WP Engine “a cancer on WordPress” and accused the independent company of not contributing enough to the open-source WordPress project. In recent weeks, the fight has involved cease and desist letters, Automattic accusing WP Engine of violating trademarks, a lawsuit filed by WP Engine, and WordPress.org blocking WP Engine’s access and taking control of a plugin. in which he maintained. .

Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that Automattic is preparing to defend its trademarks by involving “legal and non-legal” lawyers, according to an internal post published earlier this year by the company’s then-chief legal officer.

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