WP Engine issued a cease and desist letter to Matt Mullenweg, demanding he stop making ‘false, misleading, and disparaging statements’ and cease using his position at WordPress.org to benefit his for-profit company, Automattic. The letter refutes Mullenweg’s public accusations and outlines his demands for tens of millions of dollars to avoid taking a ‘nuclear approach’ against WP Engine.
A screenshot of a text message by Mullenweg states:
If you’re saying “next week” that’s saying “no”, so I will proceed with the scorched earth nuclear approach to WPE
Thank you for the clarity, it gives me time to work on things and hone my message.
WP Engine Cease And Desist
Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of the for-profit Automattic, posted on Reddit and in a Slack channel that WordPress had initiated litigation against WordPress and himself. It was later revealed that WP Engine had in fact filed a Cease and Desist request (C&D).
The C&D document, sent to the Automattic Chief Legal Officer, documents what it says are false factual statements, outlines a timeline of events, and rebuts Mullenweg’s allegations, accusations and statements.
WP Engine makes four key demands:
Cease Making False Factual Statements Regarding WP Engine.
Cease Interfering with WP Engine’s Contractual Relationships With its Employees.
Cease Interfering with WP Engine’s Contractual Relationships With its Customers
Preserve All Potentially Relevant Documents and Data.
Mullenweg Accused Of Serious Misconduct
Automattic is accused of “serious misconduct” toward WP Engine, laying out its version of events including that Mullenweg threatened to take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” against WP Engine if it refused to agree to give Automattic tens of millions of dollars in cash by 4:30 PM.
When the deadline for an agreement was not met, the legal document states that Mullenweg publicly made disparaging remarks against WP Engine in front of a live audience, on YouTube and on blog posts on the non-profit WordPress.org website.
The C&D alleges:
“…Mr. Mullenweg’s words and actions threaten to – and appear intended to – harm WP Engine’s business and reputation within the WordPress community and beyond, and tortiously interfere with WP Engine’s contractual relationships with its employees
and customers.
Indeed, some WP Engine customers and community members have already expressed an intention to stop doing business with WP Engine due to Mr. Mullenweg’s misconduct…”
Allegations Shared On Virtually All WordPress Site Admin Panels
Mullenweg’s posts were shared with millions of WordPress publishers worldwide through links displayed in the admin panels of of every WordPress site.
Screenshot Of A WordPress Admin Panel
Accused Of Abusing His Privileged Position Of Power
WP Engine’s C&D accuses Mullenweg of abusing his unique position as both the CEO of a competitor (Automattic, Inc.) and as a director at the non-profit WordPress.org which produces the open source WordPress content management system.
The document states: