Automattic transferred the WordPress source code and trademarks to the WordPress Foundation in 2010 and it also acquired the prompt generator Plinky.[16][17] In 2011, the company created Jetpack, a WordPress extension.[15]
Automattic acquired Lean Domain Search and CloudUp in 2013.[18][19] In 2014, Automattic raised $160 million in aventure round, acquired Longreads, and Mullenweg became CEO.[20][12] Schneider remained as an adviser while Mullenweg ledproduct development.[13] Automattic acquiredWooCommerce and relaunched the hosted version of its content manager, WordPress.com, in 2015.[12][21] This version replacedPHP withJavaScript and simplified administrative design. Automattic also launched a WordPress application with Mac support.[21]
Automattic'sremote working culture was the topic of a participative journalism project byScott Berkun, resulting in the 2013 bookThe Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work.[22]
On November 21, 2016, Automattic managed the launch and development of the.blog gTLD.[23]
The former office of Automattic at 140 Hawthorne Street in San Francisco in July 2017 (since closed)
In 2017, Automattic announced that it would close its San Francisco office, which had served as an optional co-working space for its employees, alongside similar spaces near Portland, Maine and in Cape Town, South Africa.[24]
Automattic acquiredAtavist Magazine in 2018.[25] The following year, it raised $300 million in aSeries D funding round led bySalesforce Ventures in 2019, giving it a $3 billion valuation. The 2019 round of funding brought the total amount raised by Automattic to more than $600 million since its founding.[26]Verizon soldTumblr to Automattic in August 2019 for approximately $3 million.[27][28] As part of the acquisition, Automattic retained approximately 200 Tumblr staffers.[28] The same year,Google and Automattic partnered to create Newspack, a publishing platform for local news organizations. Google, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, theKnight Foundation, and Civil Media invested $2.2 million in the project.[29][30]
TheCOVID-19 pandemic boosted Automattic's growth as more businesses moved online.[31] In August 2020, Automattic released P2, a collaboration platform with a blog-like interface, designed for asynchronous distributed teams.[32] That year, Automattic had approximately 1,200 employees.[33] By 2021, Automattic's valuation reached $7.5 billion. At the time, the WordPress open-source software was powering 28 million websites, or 40 percent of all websites on the Internet that used a content management system (CMS).[34][35] Automattic acquired the journaling app Day One and Frontity, aReact framework for WordPress website development, andpodcast streaming servicePocket Casts in July 2021.[36][37][38] The following year, it acquiredParse.ly in its largest deal to date.[39] The company launched the JetpackAI Assistant for WordPress in 2023.[40]
Automattic acquired multiservice messaging apps Texts in 2023.[41] The company purchased messaging app Beeper, grammar checking tool Harper, and WordPressartificial intelligence plugin maker WPAI in 2024.[42][43][44] Automattic was included in the 2024Forbes Cloud 100 list.[45] In February 2024, it was reported that the company would begin selling user data from Tumblr andWordPress.com toMidjourney andOpenAI.[46]
On April 2, 2025, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in the layoff of 16% of its workforce, or 281 positions.[47]
Towards the end of September 2024, Automattic was involved in a controversy withWP Engine, in which Automattic claimed WP Engine used the WordPress trademark in a way that confused consumers. One of the main claims made is that WP Engine does not pay trademark royalties to theWordPress Foundation.[48] Over 8 percent of Automattic's staffresigned after CEO Matt Mullenweg offered $30,000 or six months' salary asseverance to those who disagreed with his stance.[49] The next month, Mullenweg made another offer, this time of nine months' salary.[50]
^Forrester, Mark (May 19, 2015)."WooThemes Joins Automattic".The WooCommerce Blog.Archived from the original on November 29, 2024. RetrievedJanuary 24, 2018.
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