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Mullenweg threatens corporate takeover of WP Engine
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has rescinded an 8% licensing deal offered to WP Engine in September, suggesting that escalating tensions between the two companies could lead to a corporate acquisition by Automattic. In an interview with The Repository, Mullenweg said Automattic now wanted more than 8% of WP Engine’s annual revenue, or an equivalent of resources invested into the WordPress project—or a combination of both—in exchange for the use of its “WordPress” and “WooCommerce” trademarks.
He highlighted WP Engine’s long-time practice of turning off revisions to support his claims, describing the company as “strip-mining the WordPress ecosystem, giving our users a crappier experience so they can make more money.” In a post accompanying the cease and desist letter, Automattic claims it tried “for years” to get WP Engine to obtain a commercial license for trademark use and contribute to the WordPress project, but the hosting company had repeatedly declined to partner or give back. In an apparent attempt at hiding Mullenweg’s recent posts on WordPress.org, WP Engine removed the news widget from its users’ dashboards on September 24, reportedly breaking thousands of sites in the process.
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