The psychodrama surrounding WordPress never stops. After launching a legal battle against WP Engine, Automattic is now facing an internal crisis. In disagreement with their management, more than 150 people have already left the company. And a new departure offer, still generous, has just been presented to those unfortunate people who didn’t take advantage of the previous one.
It all started in mid-September when Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress and boss of Automattic, decided to declare war on WP Engine. WordPress is a publishing system used by most websites. The software is an open source project, published by the WordPress Foundation, and which publishers can use for free.
Access blocked
But there are also hosting platforms. In this market, Automattic and WP Engine compete. The first city owned the website WordPress.com. As well as the exclusive commercial use of the WordPress brand. WP Engine is one of its main competitors.
Matt Mullenweg criticizes the latter in particular for the use of the initials “WP” which would cause confusion among users. So he asked him to pay for a commercial license to continue using his trademark. A request rejected by WP Engine, which exposes an extortion attempt. And who decided to take the case to court.
In the process, Automattic’s boss opted for a radical solution: blocking WP Engine’s access to WordPress resources, thus preventing 1.5 million customers from accessing automatic plugin and software updates. This ban has been temporarily lifted and is back in effect.
“Alignment Offer”
This decision was the subject of strong criticism within the open source community. This particularly highlights the confusion of genres within the project. Officially, it is in the hands of the WordPress Foundation, an entity independent of the commercial company Automattic. In reality, this organization is completely controlled by Matt Mullenweg.
At Automattic, the manager’s crusade is not appreciated by some of the employees. The latter proposed at the beginning of October a “alignment offer” to the disaffected: six months’ salary or 30,000 dollars to resign with immediate effect. 159 people accepted, or 8% of the workforce.
However, this is not enough to quell the wind of internal protest. So on Wednesday October 16, Matt Mullenweg upped his offer, now offering nine months’ salary to anyone who doesn’t accept his fight against WP Engine.