Security1 publisher2 min readPublished
Automattic's interim CEO lost his Slack account within two days of being named
Matt Mullenweg told Automattic's company-wide Announcements channel that the board is back in agreement and he is in control. By Friday the CFO named acting interim CEO no longer had a working Slack account.
The Watch · Security desk
What happened
- Mullenweg announced on Wednesday that the Automattic board had forcibly placed him on a leave of absence, and wrote that the board "conspired" against him to vote him out behind his back.
- Late Thursday evening he posted in the company-wide Announcements channel, linking LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" with the line "Don't call it a comeback", per Slack screenshots 404 Media viewed.
- CFO Mark Davies, whom an Automattic statement had named acting interim CEO, had his Slack account deactivated as of at least Friday, sources told 404 Media, and TechCrunch reported the same.
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Why it matters
- capability Whoever holds workspace administration can unmake the executive a board installs.
- constraint A board whose only channel to staff is a workspace someone else administers cannot make a removal take effect, whatever the vote said.
- exposure Every account in that workspace is reachable by the same action taken against the CFO's, including the accounts of anyone documenting the dispute.
- decision Boards at founder-controlled companies have to decide where workspace ownership and break-glass credentials sit before a removal vote, not while one is being contested.
"Happy to announce the board is back in agreement, and I'm in control of Automattic," Mullenweg wrote in the company-wide Announcements channel, according to Slack screenshots 404 Media viewed [4]. "A lot happened in the past 48 hours that we need to sort out, and I hope much of it was a misunderstanding, because I have huge respect and regard for those involved," he added [5]. TechCrunch first reported those comments [8].
Deactivating a member account takes administrative rights in the workspace. Someone used them on the account of the executive Automattic's own statement had named acting interim CEO. 404 Media's sources could not say who [9][17]. Davies, Mullenweg and Automattic did not respond to 404 Media's requests for comment [11].
Davies was named on Wednesday; by Friday his Slack access was gone [16]. The board's Wednesday post is the last thing employees have heard from it, sources told 404 Media, so both the removal and its reversal exist as posts in the same workspace where an account was just switched off [12].
That administrative surface has been aimed at staff before. Workers spent the last two years describing layoffs, loyalty checks, and messages watermarked to trace who was leaking to the press [15].
For a board, this is a custody question. Workspace ownership, directory administration and break-glass credentials have to sit with someone who stays put through a vote; otherwise carrying out a removal depends on the cooperation of the person being removed.
On Friday morning Mullenweg published a post titled "Major Life Announcement" on his personal website, saying he is buying a tugboat [13]. "Anybody who's founded a company and had to find good stewards knows that no one will love a thing quite like the original owner, but sometimes you can find the perfect person to carry the torch," he wrote [14]. He did not address his status at the company [13]. His Slack profile picture shows him in a pirate hat and eyepatch [7].
What to watch
- Any board communication to employees after Wednesday's Slack post, including who it says controls the workspace.
- Restoration of Davies's Slack account, or a written company confirmation of who currently holds the CEO role.
- Whether other founder-led boards move workspace ownership and directory administration into independent custody.