WordPress.com parent company Automattic is changing direction… again.
In a blog post released Thursday evening entitled “Returning to Core,” Automattic announced it would pause its contributions to the WordPress project. This is despite only saying last month that the 6.8 WordPress release will be the final major release of all 2025.
“After pausing our contributions to reorganizing, rethinking and strategically planning, we’re ready to press play again and get back to our WordPress project completely,” the new blog post says. “Look to contribute to all of our biggest hits, including WordPress Core, Gutenberg, Playground, Openiverse, WordPress.org.
Automattic says he has learned a lot from the pause in many ways WordPress is used, and is now working to help it “growth and prosper.”
This post also points out that WordPress is now bolstering 43% of the web.
It is unknown what has changed.
However, according to a source who spoke with TechCrunch, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg explained in an internal post released last night that he wanted to get a 6.9 release this year with something from admin refresh and “new AI team.” (The latter refers to this week’s announcement that WordPress has formed a new team to manage the development of AI projects.)
“I don’t think it will happen without our contribution,” said a source familiar with internal discussions.
Insiders speculate that there is more to this, and various theories come to mind. Some wonder if Mullenweg was under pressure on the move or if he realized that he wasn’t good with his business or its reputation? It is debating whether this change of mind is linked to Automattic’s ongoing litigation at WP Engine, the WordPress hosting company. This is what Automattic calls the WordPress community a “threat” and “WordPress cancer.”
No one knows what to believe, and none of these back-channel theories are in line with the officially stated reasons.
Automattic was asked for additional comment.
Since 2024, Automattic has been engaged in legal disputes that, in Mullenweg’s opinion, have not been involved in the WP engine’s contribution to the WordPress project despite its size and revenue.
He believes the hosting company is profiting from the open source work WordPress does not give back. Mullenweg also claims that the WP engine is profiting from the disruption of commercial services like WordPress and WP Engine. This has resulted in him being prohibited from accessing WordPress.org and Sue in court due to fraudulent trademark use.
Simply put, Mullenweg believes that WP engines should not be allowed to pay license fees directly, contribute to open source WordPress projects or use trademarks.
Without thinking that a license was required, WP Engine responded that Automattic misunderstood the trademark law and in return it would sue Automattic.
Last month, Automattic released 16% of its staff, saying that restructuring is necessary to make it more agile and improve its productivity and profitability.
Sarah Perez can be contacted at Signal and [email protected] at @Sarahperez.01.