Automattic is reducing its weekly contribution to WordPress.org from 3,988 hours to 45 hours, continuing to escalate tensions with rival WPEngine in an ongoing legal dispute.
Automattic, the company that operates WordPress.com, blamed the time cuts on legal fees stemming from its battle with WPEngine, whose CEO Matt Mullenweg has previously called Automattic a "cancer" on the community.
Automattic said the remaining contributions will be focused on "security and critical updates" through the "Five for the Future" program.
The full text of the official announcement is translated as follows:
Automattic has been committed to the success of WordPress, devoting significant resources and talent to its development for nearly two decades. However, we’ve noticed that WordPress contributions are unevenly distributed across the ecosystem, and it’s time to address this. Additionally, we had to spend significant time and money defending against a legal attack initiated by WPEngine and funded by SilverLake, a large private equity firm. We also faced strong criticism from members of the "community" and even personal attacks from some Automatticians who wanted Matt and others to quit the project.
In an effort to realign and ensure our efforts have the greatest impact possible, Automattic will be reducing its sponsorship contributions to WordPress projects. We do not take this step lightly. We need to regroup, rethink, and strategically plan how Automattic employees can continue to contribute to the future of WordPress. Automatticians who contribute to core projects will instead focus on for-profit projects within Automattic, such as WordPress.com, Pressable, WPVIP, Jetpack and WooCommerce. Community" members say that doing this kind of work should be counted as a contribution to WordPress.
fair play
As part of the reset, Automattic will match its volunteering commitments with those made by WPEngine and other participants in the ecosystem, or approximately 45 hours per week, eligible for the Five For the Future program, benefiting the entire community, not just one company. These times may be used for security and critical updates;
Due to WPEngine's lawsuit, we decided to reallocate resources. This legal action diverts a significant amount of our time and energy that could be used to support the growth and health of WordPress. We remain hopeful that WPEngine will reconsider this legal attack, allowing us to refocus our efforts on contributing to the broader WordPress ecosystem.
Contributions from WPEngine have historically been small, which highlights the imbalance that must be addressed for healthy growth of WordPress. We believe in fairness and shared responsibility and hope this will encourage greater participation from all organizations that benefit from WordPress.
Focus on the future.
Although our sponsorship contributions have decreased, Automattic will continue to work hard on the WordPress platform. We'll turn our efforts toward projects that will strengthen WordPress for the long term - ensuring it remains resilient, relevant, and vital for the next generation of users and contributors. Part of this is bringing WordPress.com closer to the core WordPress experience rather than having a different interface.
We are pleased to be back actively contributing to WordPress core, Gutenberg, Playground, Openverse, and WordPress.org now that the legal attacks have ceased. We’ll be back stronger and more focused than ever, with a clear plan to drive meaningful contributions that reflect the needs of the broader WordPress community.
This tweak is not the end, but a new beginning - one that will ultimately strengthen the foundation of WordPress.
Thank you for your tolerance, support and understanding as we take this step.
-Automattic Team