Automattic is the company most responsible for WordPress’s dominance on the web. Founded in 2005 by Matt Mullenweg (who co-created WordPress itself), the San Francisco-based company operates WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, Simplenote, Longreads, Day One, Pocket Casts, and several other products.
The numbers around WordPress are staggering: the open-source CMS powers over 40% of all websites on the internet. While WordPress.org is the free, self-hosted version maintained by a broader community, Automattic runs WordPress.com — the hosted platform that makes money through premium plans, custom domains, and business features. WooCommerce, acquired in 2015, powers millions of online stores and is the most popular e-commerce platform on the web.
Automattic acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019 for a fraction of what Yahoo paid for it ($1.1 billion in 2013). Under Automattic’s ownership, Tumblr has stabilized and maintained its unique position as a creative social platform.
The company has been fully distributed since its founding — there’s no central office, and employees (called “Automatticians”) work from wherever they want across 90+ countries. This was notable long before remote work became common. The company has raised over $900 million in funding, with its most recent round in 2021 valuing it at $7.5 billion.
Automattic employs over 1,900 people and generates revenue primarily through WordPress.com subscriptions and WooCommerce extensions. Mullenweg’s dual role as Automattic CEO and WordPress project lead has occasionally created tension in the open-source community, but the company’s contributions to the WordPress ecosystem remain substantial.
