WordPress co-founder pays employees to leave if they don’t agree with him

Automattic, which is in charge of WordPress.com and its business services, was embroiled in a public dispute with WP Engine after Mullenweg called the third-party hosting service a “cancer” for the WordPress community and banned it from go to WordPress.org. .

Mullenweg claimed that WP Engine violated the WordPress trademark and criticized the company for not giving back to the WordPress open source project. On Wednesday, WP Engine, which is owned by private equity firm Silver Lake, filed a lawsuit accusing Mullenweg and Automattic of extortion. Automattic called the lawsuit “meritless.”

“Silver Lake and WP Engine’s attacks on me and Automattic, while fallacious, were effective,” Mullenweg wrote. “It became clear that many of my colleagues at Automattic did not agree with me and our actions.” Mullenweg gave employees until October 3 to decide whether they wanted to leave the company. Employees who have left cannot be rehired.

The resignations most affected the company’s WordPress ecosystem division, with 79.2% of those who accepted the offer working in that part of the company, according to Mullenweg. “It was an emotional roller coaster week,” Mullenweg writes. “But now I feel much lighter. I’m grateful to everyone who accepted the offer, and even more excited to work with those who turned down $126 million to stay.