By Emma Roth , a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and ed

Automattic offered employees another chance to quit over WordPress drama

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2024-10-18 00:30:02

By Emma Roth , a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg offered a second buyout round to employees who don’t agree with his actions, according to a report from 404 Media. In a message to employees seen by the outlet, Mullenweg gave employees until October 17th to decide whether they would resign in exchange for nine months of pay.

“New alignment offer: I guess some people were sad they missed the last window. Some have been leaking to the press and ex-employees,” Mullenweg wrote in the message seen by 404 Media. “You have until 00:00 UTC Oct 17 (-4 hours) to DM me the words, ‘I resign and would like to take the 9-month buy-out offer’ You don’t have to say any reason, or anything else. I will reply ‘Thank you.’ Automattic will accept your resignation.”

Earlier this month, Mullenweg offered Automattic employees the greater of $30,000 or six months of salary if they didn’t support his fight against WP Engine, a third-party WordPress hosting platform. Around 8.4 percent of the company left as a result of the offer. In Mullenweg’s new offer, he reportedly told employees leaking information to the press to “exit gracefully, or be fired tomorrow with no severance.” You can read Mullenweg’s message in full at the end of this post.