An interview with Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg on why he fought over WordPress
Matt Mullenweg, co-developer of the open source content management system 'WordPress', publicly criticized 'WP Engine', a commercial hosting service built on WordPress, which caused a backlash from the community, claiming that Mullenweg's actions were inappropriate in his position as a WordPress administrator, and had a major impact on the WordPress community. Mullenweg himself spoke about why he made such a decision regarding this matter, which has escalated into a lawsuit.
Why Matt Mullenweg went to war over WordPress | The Verge
In September 2024, at the WordPress event 'WordCamp US 2024,' Mullenweg compared his company Automattic with WP Engine, a commercial hosting service that uses WordPress, and pointed out that 'despite both companies' pledges to support the sustainable growth of WordPress, WP Engine's contributions have been minimal.' Specifically, Automattic spends 3,900 hours a week on WordPress, while WP Engine spends only 40 hours, and both companies have made nearly $500 million in revenue, but there is a clear difference in the amount of investment they make in WordPress. He sharply criticized WP Engine as 'the cancer of WordPress.'
In addition to the difference in investment costs, Mullenweg pointed out that WP Engine has disabled important WordPress functions in pursuit of profits, and that WP Engine is misleading people into thinking that it is an official WordPress service. He sent a cease and desist letter to WP Engine through Automattic, requesting them to cease and desist from using the WordPress trademark.
In addition, Marenweg announced that he would block WP Engine's access to WordPress, saying, 'Companies that make a lot of money from open source projects should give back, and if they don't, they shouldn't use the trademarks,' showing his intention to block WP Engine completely.
WP Engine responded to Mullenweg's claims by suing Automattic and Mullenweg, alleging that the demand for trademark royalties constituted extortion, defamation, unfair competition, and other legal violations. It also filed a petition in court seeking restoration of access to WordPress. The latter claim was granted on December 10, 2024, and a preliminary injunction was issued to restore WP Engine's access. As a result, the impact is spreading in various areas, including Ryan Keller, CEO of SecureSight, a cybersecurity company that uses WP Engine, filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of WP Engine customers.
The Verge, a technology media outlet, interviewed Mullenweg about this and other topics.
The Verge:
You decided to cut ties with WP Engine, a WordPress hosting service, because you felt they were freeloading on open source. Was the decision to go against WP Engine a team decision or your own personal decision?
Mr. Mullenweg:
It was a team decision that reflected a lot of community feedback, but I take full responsibility for it, and if people are unhappy with what many feel was a unilateral decision that seems at odds with the open source ethos, they should pursue me.
I feel a great responsibility to WordPress.org and the tens of thousands of people who contribute to WordPress regularly. I have a responsibility to be the focal point of criticism and hate. So the developers who actually write the code for WordPress, the people who shouldn't be on the receiving end of these negative comments, don't have to be like me. I'm willing to take the criticism for them.
The Verge:
To me, this conflict seems like a classic open source free rider problem: there's a big vibrant open source ecosystem, and someone just uses it, sells hosting, and maybe even provides a better level of customer support than the original project. They don't fund the original project, and they use the whole project as a free rider. In the abstract, this is a problem that's always been around in the open source community. The general consensus is that 'that's the price of open source.'
Mr. Mullenweg:
There are countless companies that I don't think pose a threat or harm to the future of WordPress. You may call me crazy or insane, but I want to emphasize that in my long career, very few things like this have happened, and of course not all of them have been public. I would stand up if I felt there was a real threat to the community. But we try to operate in a way that doesn't happen at all.
It's easy to find examples of other open source projects where commercial interests have sapped the life out of the project: for example, you can't buy things directly from the WordPress.org directory (like an app store), you have to buy directly from the developer, there's no one-click buy system.
This is actually a very complicated incentive system. Other open source projects did similar efforts early on, but their communities changed the collaborative nature of individual developers working independently, both in the core software and in add-ons. For example, let's say you and I are plugin developers. I build a better widget, and you have another widget. In WordPress, this is what often happens: I say, 'Your widget is cool, let's combine them together,' and we merge our plugins. Or I say, 'This should be in the core. Let's work on it together and submit it, so everyone can use it.'
If you and I sell that widget, we might each make a nice amount of money, and we'll make a pact not to open source it or cooperate with each other. But after a few years of this, users start to feel like they're being charged a small fee for each feature. This can lead to the core software languishing, because the best development resources are being poured into these extensions, hollowing out the core.
The Verge:
You've
Mr. Mullenweg
I regret saying that (laughs). That statement has been taken out of context so many times. It was the worst thing I could say. I said it because the interviewer was asking about specific ownership, like, 'Which legal entity owns it?' That's a completely separate issue from how the site is run, how decisions are made, how the code works, etc.
If you look at how WordPress.org operates and how it works, it's clearly the product of tens of thousands of people. So it was disappointing to me that people misunderstood that I made all the decisions and that WordPress was just me. I really regret that. A lot of people have taken this out of context and said, 'The reliance of this project on one person is problematic.'
The Verge:
But it does happen. You own WordPress.org, the WordPress plugin repository and update repository, and you can block access to it. That’s what happened to WP Engine.
Mr. Mullenweg:
The tables have turned. My authority is apparently not as great. This time I had a moral conflict, a commercial conflict.
The Verge:
How long do you think it will take for this dispute to be resolved? Will it go to court or be settled?
Mr. Mullenweg:
I wish I could answer that. I really, really want to get back to the most collaborative and open WordPress possible. WP Engine is a great group of people. They have a lot of satisfied customers. They can really contribute a lot to the growth and adoption of WordPress. So, I'm optimistic.
We are fortunate to have great, reliable lawyers to work with, but my interests lie in product and engineering, and I would love to get back to spending my time there. In my 20 years at Automattic, there has hardly been a day, even a weekend, that I haven't done some work on core WordPress or other open source projects. Honestly, I see myself being open source for the rest of my life.
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