Talk:Automattic

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The content of IntenseDebate was merged into Automattic on 5 October 2016. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists. For the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

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Fourth paragraph re-write, History section

An impartial editor has reviewed the proposed edit(s) and asked the editor with a conflict of interest to go ahead and make the suggested changes.

Hello Valorrr and Likeanechointheforest!

I've returned from the Reliable sources/Noticeboard with feedback on the previous edit requests' sourcing.

Alaexis was alright with the sources I used, while Newslinger laid out a detailed summary of what sources they deemed reliable or not.

Newslinger pointed out that VentureBeat was previously considered generally reliable, but that status was outdated. Although, the source that I am using from VentureBeat is from when that source was considered reliable. Recent discussions show there’s now no clear consensus on its reliability, especially because of concerns about churnalism and changes in editorial practices. However, VentureBeat and TechCrunch articles about routine company announcements can be used for basic, uncontroversial facts (like acquisitions).

Additionally, they said that there are some special TechCrunch articles (like their TC-1/EC-1 series) that involve more original reporting and are considered reliable.

The Business Insider article was considered not reliable. It was deemed promotional, poorly edited, and didn’t meet Wikipedia’s standards for quality or independence. For that reason, I have omitted it from the re-write of the section.

In short, the decision on the Rs/N was that I could use these sources (excluding BI) with care. Routine news was deemed fine for simple facts.

See below, the re-write of the previous request based on this discussion, without the Business Insider source:

Automattic acquired Lean Domain Search and CloudUp in 2013.^[1][2] In 2014, Automattic raised $160 million in a venture round, acquired Longreads, and Mullenweg became CEO.^[3][4] Schneider remained as an adviser while Mullenweg led product development.^[5] Automattic acquired WooCommerce and relaunched the hosted version of its content manager, WordPress.com, in 2015.^[4][6] This version replaced PHP with JavaScript and simplified administrative design. Automattic also launched a WordPress application with Mac support.^[6]

References

1. Kelly, Meghan (September 25, 2013). "WordPress to get collaborative post editing after CloudUp acquisition". VentureBeat. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
2. Lardinois, Frederic (July 15, 2013). "Automattic Acqui-Hires Lean Domain Search To Improve Its Domain Registration Service". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
3. Kolodny, Lora (May 5, 2014). "Automattic Valued at $1.16 Billion, Says It Doesn't Need IPO". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
4. Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
5. Farr, Christina (January 13, 2014). "WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg to take over Automattic as CEO". VentureBeat. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
6. Weber, Harrison (November 23, 2015). "Automattic revamps and open-sources WordPress.com". VentureBeat. Retrieved November 1, 2024.

Let me know what you think, after the consensus reached on the Reliable sources Noticeboard. Thanks Chenda at Automattic (talk) 20:45, 15 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Providing a list of the sources I approve/deny based on reading them, will be updated as I read them...

^[1] Y
^[2] Y
^[3] Not sure I'll let the other user review this source, I've noticed some things, that make me a bit questionable, but letting others review, before saying no.
Automattic didn’t follow the zeitgeist. “When we asked our users, ‘Who wants ads?’, 20% said that’s great, [but] the others didn’t want ads,” says Schneider. WordPress was, after all, a community-driven project, so the community’s voice won out. (They state)
^[4] Not sure, Cannot see the article, making me unable to review, therefore I will let another editor review...
^[5] Stopped/Paused, due to other issues.
^[6] Stopped/Paused, due to other issues.

These are in the opposite order as the citations above, going from bottom -> top. Valorrr ^{(lets chat)} 14:15, 16 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Valorrr, here are the excerpts I am citing from the Wall Street Journal source for the sentence "In 2014, Automattic raised $160 million in a venture round, acquired Longreads, and Mullenweg became CEO":

• "Automattic, the company behind top digital publishing platform WordPress, has raised $160 million in venture funding at a valuation of $1.16 billion, Chief Executive Matt Mullenweg said."
• "Recently Automattic acquired Longreads, an app that helps users discover the best news and longer-format stories online."

Let me know if this helps, thanks Chenda at Automattic (talk) 20:23, 22 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Go ahead: I have reviewed these proposed changes and suggest that you go ahead and make the proposed changes to the page. Feel free any editor to revert my choice```. Valorrr ^{(lets chat)} 16:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Valorrr, I appreciate your review! Let me know if it looks alright. Thanks Chenda at Automattic (talk) 19:42, 8 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

History section, four requests

Hello Valorrr and Likeanechointheforest! I'm here with another edit request, and mentioning you both here in case you're interested in taking a look.

Here are a few simple changes I’m proposing to add more context about Automattic’s history to the article and to improve the sourcing overall. My suggestions are below:

• Request 1: Add these two sentences just before the section beginning with "Automattic's remote working culture":

Around 2018, Automattic began splitting its businesses into separate units with their own management teams, similar to a holding company structure.^[7] The company introduced what it called the "five levels of autonomy" model, which describes how companies could adopt distributed work practices.^[7]

• Request 2: I would like to replace these two sentences:

In August 2019, Automattic closed a deal with Verizon Media to acquire Tumblr.^[8] In September of the same year, Automattic announced a Series D funding round of $300 million from Salesforce, increasing its valuation to US$3 billion.^[9]

with the following. This paragraph expands upon the information in the former two sentences, but includes improved sourcing and details. It also adds information about the creation of Newspack by Automattic and Google:

Automattic acquired Atavist Magazine in 2018.^[10] The following year, it raised $300 million in a Series D funding round led by Salesforce 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.^[11] Verizon sold Tumblr to Automattic in August 2019 for approximately $3 million.^[12][13] As part of the acquisition, Automattic retained approximately 200 Tumblr staffers.^[13] The same year, Google and Automattic partnered to create Newspack, a publishing platform for local news organizations. Google, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the Knight Foundation, and Civil Media invested $2.2 million in the project.^[14][15]

• Request 3: I would like to replace these two sentences cited from the blog of the founder of Automattic:

Ending in February 2021, Automattic brought in US$288 million from a primary funding round. Subsequently, the company participated in a stock buyback, with the company valued at US$7.5 billion.^[16]

with the following paragraph. This paragraph explains how Automattic grew during the pandemic, releasing JetPack AI, and acquiring Day One, Frontity, React, and Pocket Casts with reliable sourcing:

The COVID-19 pandemic boosted Automattic's growth as more businesses moved online.^[17] In August 2020, Automattic released P2, a collaboration platform with a blog-like interface, designed for asynchronous distributed teams.^[18] That year, Automattic had approximately 1,200 employees.^[19] By 2021, Automattic's valuation reached $7.5 billion. At the time, Wordpress hosted 28 million websites, or 40 percent of all websites on the Internet.^[20][21] Automattic acquired the journaling app Day One and Frontity, a React framework for WordPress website development, and podcast streaming service Pocket Casts in July 2021.^[22][23][24] The following year, it acquired Parse.ly in its largest deal to date.^[25] The company launched the Jetpack AI Assistant for WordPress in 2023.^[26]

• Request 4: Finally, I would like to add the following before the sentence beginning with "In February 2024":

Automattic acquired multiservice messaging apps Texts in 2023.^[27] The company purchased messaging app Beeper, grammar checking tool Harper, and WordPress artificial intelligence plugin maker WPAI in 2024.^[28][29][30] Automattic was included in the 2024 Forbes Cloud 100 list.^[31]

References

1. https://venturebeat.com/mobile/automattic-revamps-and-open-sources-wordpress-com/
2. "WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg to take over Automattic as CEO". 13 January 2014.
3. "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". 19 October 2021.
4. Kolodny, Lora (5 May 2014). "Automattic Valued at $1.16 Billion, Says It Doesn't Need IPO". Wall Street Journal.
5. "Automattic Acqui-Hires Lean Domain Search to Improve Its Domain Registration Service". 15 July 2013.
6. "WordPress to get collaborative post editing after CloudUp acquisition". 25 September 2013.
7. Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "The future of remote work is text". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
8. Radulovic, Petrana (2019-08-12). "Tumblr sold off yet again, adult content bans to be relaxed, but are being discussed". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2024-09-30. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
9. Dillet, Romain (2019-09-19). "Automattic raises $300 million at $3 billion valuation from Salesforce Ventures". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2024-11-13. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
10. Mullin, Benjamin (June 21, 2018). "WordPress.com Owner Buys Atavist, Maker of Subscription-Offering Publishing Software". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
11. Sawers, Paul (September 19, 2019). "WordPress.com parent Automattic raises $300 million from Salesforce at a $3 billion valuation". VentureBeat. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
12. Sandler, Rachel (August 12, 2019). "Verizon To Sell Tumblr To Wordpress Owner". Forbes. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
13. Siegel, Rachel (August 13, 2019). "Tumblr once sold for $1.1 billion. The owner of WordPress just bought the site for a fraction of that". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2023-08-01. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
14. Southern, Matt (January 14, 2019). "Google is Partnering With WordPress to Develop a News Publishing Platform". Search Engine Journal. Archived from the original on January 17, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
15. "Google Partners Automattic, WordPress to Create 'Newspack' Publishing Platform for Local News Publishers". Gadgets 360. Indo-Asian News Service. January 15, 2019. Archived from the original on March 7, 2025. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
16. Mullenweg, Matt (2021-08-16). "Funding, Buyback, and Hiring". ma.tt. Archived from the original on 2024-12-09. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
17. Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "How doing everything wrong turned Automattic into a multibillion dollar media powerhouse". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
18. Sawers, Paul (August 6, 2020). "Automattic launches P2, a WordPress-powered collaboration tool for remote teams". VentureBeat. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
19. Shah, Agam (March 12, 2020). "Working Remotely Requires Cultural Change, Executives Say". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
20. Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "Can social and e-commerce transform the future of the open web?". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
21. Morrison, Chris (October 19, 2021). "There's nothing Automattic about balancing commercial growth with an open source developer community". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
22. Perez, Sarah (June 14, 2021). "WordPress.com owner Automattic acquires journaling app Day One". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
23. Sawers, Paul (August 30, 2021). "Automattic acqui-hires the team behind Frontity, a React framework for WordPress". VentureBeat. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
24. Carman, Ashley (July 16, 2021). "Automattic, owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com, buys podcast app Pocket Casts/A new home for the popular podcast app". The Verge. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
25. Prang, Allison (February 8, 2021). "WordPress VIP Buying Content Analytics Firm Parse.ly". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
26. Mehta, Ivan (June 7, 2023). "Automattic launches an AI writing assistant for WordPress". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
27. Pierce, David (October 24, 2023). "Automattic is acquiring Texts and betting big on the future of messaging". The Verge. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
28. Pierce, David (April 9, 2024). "Beeper was just acquired by Automattic, which has big plans for the future of messaging". The Verge. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
29. Perez, Sarah (November 21, 2024). "WordPress.com owner Automattic snaps up grammar checker Harper". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
30. Mehta, Ivan (December 9, 2024). "Automattic acquires WPAI, a startup that makes AI products for WordPress". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
31. Cai, Kendrick; Konrad, Alex, eds. (August 6, 2024). "Forbes Cloud 100 No. 71: Automattic". Forbes. Retrieved December 2, 2024.

Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to address them. Thanks! Chenda at Automattic (talk) 21:16, 25 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

1. 1 feels a bit too specific to me, bordering on promotional, to be notable. Partially implementing the others Likeanechointheforest (talk) 17:30, 26 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]