Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, is scaling back its contributions to the WordPress open-source project, according to an announcement on Thursday. The company says it’s decreasing contributions to “match” the amount of time companies like WP Engine spend on the ecosystem, further escalating the tension between Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and the community.
Now, instead of spending 3,988 hours per week developing the WordPress project, Automattic says it will now contribute around 45 hours as part of Five for the Future — a program that encourages companies to give back five percent of their resources to WordPress.org. “These hours will likely go towards security and critical updates,” Automattic says.
Mullenweg, who also co-founded WordPress, criticized the third-party host WP Engine for contributing 40 hours a week to the ecosystem and called it a “cancer” to the community. On the Five for the Future page that tracks contributions, the number of hours contributed by Automattic is already dwindling.
Automattic blames the cutback on the “significant time and money” related to the ongoing legal battle with WP Engine. It also points to the “intense criticism” it has faced “from members of the ‘community’ who want Matt and others to step away” from the WordPress project:
We’ve made the decision to reallocate resources due to the lawsuits from WP Engine. This legal action diverts significant time and energy that could otherwise be directed toward supporting WordPress’s growth and health. We remain hopeful that WP Engine will reconsider this legal attack, allowing us to refocus our efforts on contributions that benefit the broader WordPress ecosystem.
WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg last year after the co-founder waged a public campaign against the company and took over its ACF plugin. A judge later granted a preliminary injunction in favor of WP Engine, saying Mullenweg’s “conduct is designed to induce breach or disruption.”
A number of employees also left Automattic last year after the company offered to buy out staff who didn’t agree with its fight against WP Engine. The company also shuttered its sustainability team this week, with a screenshotted Slack message from Mullenweg saying, “it’s probably a good time to officially dissolve the team entirely,” adding that “it doesn’t seem like creating a team around this was able to further any of its goals.” The move has sparked criticism from the community, including journalist Kara Swisher.