Automattic has confirmed that Matt Mullenweg has returned to his position as chairman and CEO of the company, after the board voted earlier in the week to place him on a paid leave of absence.
"Matt Mullenweg is the chairman and CEO of Automattic, with full support of the board and if you search online you can see many top executives and Automatticians supporting him as well," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The board's vote to put Mullenweg on leave was for unknown reasons and appeared to surprise him. Automattic confirmed his removal on Wednesday, saying he was "currently on leave" and that Chief Financial Officer Mark Davies would lead as interim CEO with the board's full confidence.
Multiple sources said Mullenweg declined to depart, removed other admins from the company Slack and told employees he was back in control. He also posted to Slack, "I'm a pirate now" and cursed, and wrote: "If this is an HR problem, please wrangle me in since my normal wranglers are with Mark Davies."
Mullenweg did not provide an official comment on his return, but noted on X that this was likely the fifth time he had faced a "coup." Automattic did not respond to repeated requests for comment on Friday, nor to reports that board member Toni Schneider had stepped down.