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According the company’s website, four people have been laid off from its Irish operations.
Automattic, best known for creating WordPress.com, has announced that it is laying off approximately 16pc of its workforce. The layoffs will improve the company’s productivity, profitability and capacity to invest, said Matt Mullenweg, the company’s CEO.
Before the layoffs were announced, Automattic listed 1,774 employees spread over 90 countries, which has since been reduced to 1,495. This means 279 people were laid off. Its Irish operations, which was listed as having 21 employees, has been reduced to 17.
“While our revenue continues to grow, Automattic operates in a highly competitive market,” Mullenweg wrote in a message shared with employees. The company, in response, is planning a shift toward doing fewer things, with an improved focus on quality.
According to Mullenweg, the restructuring will allow the company to be more agile in response to market changes, break down silos that created “inefficiencies” and ensure a viable financial model for its long-term success.
Apart from creating WordPress, Automattic has acquired more than a dozen online products, including microblogging platform Tumblr, WooCommerce, a plugin for WordPress, as well as the online survey and quiz conductor PollDaddy, now known as CrowdSignal. In 2024, the company acquired messaging app Beeper and the AI start-up WPAI.
“I’m confident we will come out of this situation in a better position, poised to create a vibrant, profitable, well-designed company that will continue our mission to democratise the internet,” the CEO said.
Last year, a US court ordered Automattic to stop interfering with hosting provider WP Engine’s plugins. WP Engine specialises in WordPress technology, providing managed hosting as well as e-commerce and enterprise offerings.
The legal battle began after Mullenweg, earlier in the year, claimed that WP Engine is a “cancer to WordPress”, warning that the company capitalises on and profits from WordPress. In response to the comments, WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic asking Mullenweg to retract his comments.
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