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Automattic

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Not to be confused with Automatic.

Automattic Inc.
Company typePrivate
Industry
  • Internet
  • Web Development
  • Software
Founded2005; 19 years ago (2005), in the United States
FounderMatt Mullenweg
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, US
Key people
Matt Mullenweg (CEO, president)
Products
Number of employees
1,733 (2024[1])
ASN2635 Edit this at Wikidata
Websiteautomattic.com

Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The company's name is a play on founder Matt Mullenweg's first name and the word "automatic".[2]

History

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On January 11, 2006, it was announced that Toni Schneider would be leaving Yahoo! to become CEO of Automattic. He was previously CEO of Oddpost before it was acquired by Yahoo!, where he had continued as a senior executive.[3][4]

In April 2006, Automattic's Regulation D filing showed it had raised approximately $1.1 million in funding,[5] which Mullenweg addressed in his blog. Investors were Polaris Ventures, True Ventures, and Radar Partners.[2]

On September 9, 2010, Automattic gave the WordPress trademark and control over bbPress and BuddyPress to the WordPress Foundation.[6]

Its remote working culture was the topic of a participative journalism project by Scott Berkun, resulting in the 2013 book The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work.[7]

On November 21, 2016, Automattic, via a subsidiary company (Knock Knock, WHOIS There) managed the launch and later development of the .blog gTLD, thus becoming a domain registrar.[8]

The former office of Automattic at 140 Hawthorne Street in San Francisco in July 2017 (since closed)

In 2017, Automattic announced that it would close its San Francisco office, which had served as an optional co-working space for its employees alongside similar spaces near Portland, Maine and in Cape Town, South Africa.[9]

In August 2019, Automattic closed a deal with Verizon Media to acquire Tumblr.[10] Mullenweg stated that he saw Tumblr as an "on-ramp" for WordPress adoption.[11]

In September of the same year, Automattic announced a Series D funding round of $300 million from Salesforce, increasing its valuation to US$3 billion.[12]

Ending in February 2021, Automattic brought in US$288 million from a primary funding round. Subsequently, the company participated in a stock buyback, with the company valued at US$7.5 billion.[13]

In February 2024, it was reported that the company would begin selling user data from Tumblr and WordPress.com to Midjourney and OpenAI.[14]

Towards the end of September 2024, Automattic was involved in a controversy with WP Engine, in which Automattic claimed WP Engine used the WordPress trademark in a way that confused consumers. One of the main claims made is that WP Engine does not pay trademark royalties to the WordPress Foundation.[15] Over 8 percent of Automattic's staff resigned after CEO Matt Mullenweg offered $30,000 or six months' salary as severance to those who disagreed with his stance.[16] The next month, Mullenweg made another offer, this time of nine months' salary.[17]

Products

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Some notable Automattic brands and products include:

  • WordPress.com – blog host, created in 2005
  • Akismet – anti-comment spam system capable of integration with many blogging platforms and forums, created in 2005
  • Gravatar – globally recognized avatars, acquired 2007[18]
  • BuddyPress – social networking plugin suite, acquired September 2008 and given to the WordPress Foundation in 2010[6]
  • IntenseDebate – acquired September 2008[19]
  • PollDaddy – acquired November 2008[20]
  • Simplenote – note-taking and sync service, acquired in 2013
  • Longreads – acquired in 2014[21]
  • WooCommerce – eCommerce plugin for WordPress with a marketplace for extensions, acquired in 2015[22]
  • Atavist – multimedia publishing platform and magazine, acquired in 2018[23]
  • Prospress – WooCommerce extension developer, acquired in May 2019[24][25]
  • Jetpack CRM – acquired in August 2019, renamed from "Zero BS CRM"[26][27]
  • Tumblr – Microblogging platform, acquired in 2019[28]
  • Parse.ly – web analytics tools, acquired in February 2021[29]
  • Day One – personal journaling app, acquired in June 2021[30]
  • Pocket Casts – podcast client, acquired in July 2021[31]
  • Texts.com – messaging bridging app, acquired in October 2023[32]
  • Beeper – messaging bridging app based on Matrix, acquired in April 2024[33]

Corporate affairs

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As of October 2024, Automattic's board consisted of the following directors:

References

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  1. ^ "About Us". Automattic. July 23, 2005. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  3. ^ Malik, Om (January 11, 2006). "Yahoo Exec Exits For Automattic CEO Gig". gigaom.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  4. ^ Moving On From Yahoo -> Automattic Archived November 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "EDGAR Search Results". www.sec.gov. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "A New Home for the WordPress Trademark". September 9, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  7. ^ Scott Berkun (September 10, 2013). The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-66063-8.
  8. ^ "About Knock Knock, WHOIS There". April 13, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  9. ^ Staley, Oliver (June 12, 2017). "Wordpress's owner is closing its San Francisco office because its employees never show up". Quartz. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  10. ^ Radulovic, Petrana (August 12, 2019). "Tumblr sold off yet again, adult content bans to be relaxed, but are being discussed". Polygon. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  11. ^ Milano, Matt (August 23, 2023). "Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, Sees Tumblr As a Gateway Product". WebProNews. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  12. ^ "Automattic raises $300 million at $3 billion valuation from Salesforce Ventures". TechCrunch. September 19, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  13. ^ Matt Mullenweg (August 16, 2021). "Funding, Buyback, and Hiring".
  14. ^ Cole, Samantha (February 27, 2024). "Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users' Data to Train AI Tools". 404 Media. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  15. ^ Mehta, Ivan (September 26, 2024). "The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  16. ^ Roth, Emma (October 4, 2024). "WordPress co-founder is paying employees to leave if they disagree with him". The Verge. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  17. ^ Cole, Samantha (October 17, 2024). "Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic Over WordPress Chaos". 404 Media. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  18. ^ "Automattic Acquires Gravatar". TechCrunch. October 18, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
  19. ^ "Automattic Acquires IntenseDebate". September 23, 2008. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  20. ^ "Automattic Acquires PollDaddy!". October 15, 2008. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  21. ^ "Longreads Is Joining the Automattic Family". April 9, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  22. ^ "WooThemes Joins Automattic". May 19, 2015. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  23. ^ "Automattic, Parent Company of WordPress.com, Acquires Atavist Publishing Platform and Award-Winning Magazine". PR Newswire. June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  24. ^ Shepherd, Brent (May 22, 2019). "A Final Prospress Post…". Prospress Blog. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  25. ^ Dillet, Romain (May 23, 2019). "Automattic acquires subscription payment company Prospress". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  26. ^ "Zero BS CRM acquired" (Press release). August 16, 2019.
  27. ^ "Introducing Jetpack CRM: Grow Your Business Through Better Contact Management". Jetpack. Automattic. July 20, 2020. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  28. ^ "Automattic Acquires Tumblr, Plans to Rebuild the Backend Powered by WordPress". August 13, 2019.
  29. ^ "Parse.ly & Automattic". Matt Mullenweg. February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  30. ^ "WordPress.com owner Automattic acquires journaling app Day One". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  31. ^ "Popular Podcast App Pocket Casts Joins Automattic – WordPress.com News". July 16, 2021.
  32. ^ Pierce, David (October 24, 2023). "Automattic is acquiring Texts and betting big on the future of messaging". The Verge. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  33. ^ Pierce, David (April 9, 2024). "Beeper was just acquired by Automattic, which has big plans for the future of messaging". The Verge. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
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Media related to Automattic at Wikimedia Commons

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