Mullenweg and current CEO Toni Schneider are swapping roles, the WordPress founder said today. It may be because he's now 30, and thinks twenty-somethings shouldn't run companies. January 13, 2014 11:56 AM PST Automattic and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg speaking at LeWeb in 2012. (Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET) WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, having hit 30, is taking over as CEO of Automattic, the blogging platform's developer. In a blog post today, Mullenweg wrote that he and current CEO Toni Schneider are swapping roles at Automattic. Mullenweg wrote that Schneider is "going to focus on some of Automattic's new products, and I'm going to take on the role of CEO." He added that, "internally this isn't a big change as our roles have always been quite fluid, and I've had some recent practice filling in for him for a few months last year when he was on sabbatical." The timing of the move is interesting. Mullenweg said he believes people in their twenties shouldn't run a company because "they think they know everything, a fact I can now say with complete confidence now that I'm 30 and two days old." WordPress, of course, is a leading publishing platform that some believe could be an attractive target for an Internet giant like Yahoo, which spent $1.1 billion on Tumblr last year. Writing in the Guardian, Dan Gillmor expounded on Automattic's value last year, given that "the WordPress community is enormous in part because, like other major open-source projects, it has become the center of an ecosystem."
Mullenweg and current CEO Toni Schneider are swapping roles, the WordPress founder said today. It may be because he's now 30, and thinks twenty-somethings shouldn't run companies.
Automattic and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg speaking at LeWeb in 2012.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)
WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, having hit 30, is taking over as CEO of Automattic, the blogging platform's developer.
In a blog post today, Mullenweg wrote that he and current CEO Toni Schneider are swapping roles at Automattic.
Mullenweg wrote that Schneider is "going to focus on some of Automattic's new products, and I'm going to take on the role of CEO." He added that, "internally this isn't a big change as our roles have always been quite fluid, and I've had some recent practice filling in for him for a few months last year when he was on sabbatical."
The timing of the move is interesting. Mullenweg said he believes people in their twenties shouldn't run a company because "they think they know everything, a fact I can now say with complete confidence now that I'm 30 and two days old."
WordPress, of course, is a leading publishing platform that some believe could be an attractive target for an Internet giant like Yahoo, which spent $1.1 billion on Tumblr last year.
Writing in the Guardian, Dan Gillmor expounded on Automattic's value last year, given that "the WordPress community is enormous in part because, like other major open-source projects, it has become the center of an ecosystem."
