Automattic offered its employees another chance to quit – this time with a nine-month severance package

A few days after 159 people accepted Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg’s offer to offer a six-month severance package to employees who wanted to quit, the company late on Oct. 16 made a new offer of a nine-month severance package to those who quit immediately. Employees had four hours to decide whether to accept the deal.

In a Slack message viewed by TechCrunch, Mullenweg wrote that people who accepted the offer would lose access not only to Automattic, but also to WordPress.org. This effectively means that people who leave the company can no longer contribute to the open source project – at least not with their existing ID. This would also mean that they would be effectively banned from the WordPress community. 404 Media previously reported on the deal.

In addition to being CEO of Automattic, Mullenweg also owns and controls the open source website WordPress.org.

Mullenweg gave him just four hours’ notice and said that people who wanted to accept the offer should send him a DM: “I’m resigning and would like to accept the 9-month buyout offer.”

“You don’t have to give a reason or anything. I will respond with “Thank you very much.” Automattic accepts your resignation, you can keep your office supplies and your work laptop. You lose access to Automattic and Worg,” Mullenweg said.

He said: “I guess some people were sad that they missed the last window,” and so presented this new short window.

Automattic did not comment on the story at the time of publication. It is not clear whether employees have accepted the new offer. According to its website, the company currently employs 1,731 people; a few hours ago it was at 1,732.

The WordPress co-founder’s first offer was aimed at people who disagreed with his views on Automattic’s battle with hosting provider WP Engine. Among the first people to leave Automattic were some of the company’s top people, including the head of WordPress.com (the commercial WordPress hosting arm of Automattic), Daniel Bachhuber, the head of programs and contributor experience Naoko Takano, the Principal AI Architect Daniel Walmsley and WordPress.org Managing Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy.

The fight began nearly a month ago after Mullenweg called WP Engine “a cancer on WordPress” and accused the independent company of not contributing enough to the WordPress open source project. In recent weeks, the battle has included cease-and-desist letters, Automattic accusing WP Engine of trademark infringement, a lawsuit from WP Engine, and WordPress.org blocking WP Engine’s access and taking over a plugin managed by WP Engine.

Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that Automattic was preparing to defend its brands by hiring “nice and not nice” lawyers, according to an internal post published earlier this year by the company’s then-chief legal officer.

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