Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, WooCommerce and Tumblr, has begun laying off staff, and TechCrunch reports that insiders expect more cuts ahead. Over at least the past week, the reductions have reached the communications team, the social team, WordPress.com and the VIP enterprise business. Sources also told the outlet that the company has let go marketing and product staff at WordPress.com this month.
The departures add to turmoil at a company still recovering from the board’s failed attempt to remove CEO Matt Mullenweg in September. That episode ended with a complete board turnover and the exit of several executives, including the CFO, an interim CFO and the chief legal officer. Megan Fox, the director of communications, wrote on LinkedIn that the company had eliminated her role, and she called it an unexpected end.
Leadership changes have continued to draw attention. After TechCrunch reported that interim CFO Jeremy Klaperman left earlier this month, Mullenweg suggested on X that the decision to look for outside candidates may have offended Klaperman. Internally, though, Mullenweg had reportedly asked him to reconsider. Separately, screenshots that TechCrunch reviewed show Mullenweg sharing private personal details about a departed executive in the company’s internal Slack, and some employees said the choice of forum shocked them.
Mullenweg has played down the numbers. Last week he said the terminations did not exceed normal levels. When a reporter asked on Wednesday about the growing total, he said he was mostly focused on PHP, referring to a security issue then spreading across the internet.
Automattic’s About page lists 1,397 employees. According to insiders, however, the company plans to spread the layoffs over the coming months, hoping to improve fourth-quarter revenue before a debt renegotiation that comes up in June. That timeline comes from insider accounts, and the company has not confirmed the reasoning.
Company spokesperson Chenda Ngak offered a different framing. She said Automattic is staggering its organizational changes so it can offer more generous severance and give each employee more time.
For now, the total number of affected workers remains unclear, and the company has not published figures. Anyone following the story should treat the expected additional cuts as unconfirmed.
