🕶️ Mullenweg unfired himself

Morning, founders. 🕶️

Automattic's board fired founder Matt Mullenweg and installed a new CEO. Forty-eight hours later, Mullenweg told staff over Slack he was back in charge. The board hasn't confirmed anything. At a $3 billion company, no one knows who's actually running it.

In today's newsletter, we'll get into:

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The board fired the king. The king walked back in 48 hours later like nothing happened.

Picture a boardroom coup that lasts less time than a bad hangover. That's what allegedly just went down at Automattic, the empire behind wordpress.com, WooCommerce, and Tumblr, last valued at $3 billion off its 2019 $300M Series D.

The board voted out founder Matt Mullenweg, put him on paid leave, and slid CFO Mark Davies into the interim CEO chair. Clean, corporate, textbook governance. Then, 48 hours later, Mullenweg told staff over Slack he was back in charge. No press release. Just a message.

Here's the catch: the board hasn't confirmed a thing. So we've got a founder claiming control and a boardroom that's gone quiet. Not exactly the "robust governance" your term sheet promised.

The lesson for anyone taking institutional money: influence you assume isn't influence you own. If you want founder power that survives a board vote, put it in writing. Super-voting shares, board seats, transition protocols, all locked before the crisis, not improvised over Slack during one.

Because the myth is that boards run the company. The reality? Sometimes the founder just refuses to leave. Watch for the board's next statement. That's the only thing that settles who actually won.

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