Tech CEOs used to fear their boards. No more
The colorful CEO of Automattic, which controls WordPress, was forced out last Thursday by his board of directors, which put him on a leave of absence. He used his system access to remove the accounts of the acting CEO and others — an action that could get most employees fired. Instead, he was fully reinstated to CEO a couple of days later. It’s not hard to compare this to the saga at OpenAI…
The CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress, was recently forced to step down by his board of directors and placed on a leave of absence. Astonishingly, he was reinstated as CEO just a couple of days later. This situation bears a striking resemblance to a similar incident that occurred almost three years ago at OpenAI, where the board fired the CEO for lying repeatedly, only for the board to reverse its decision shortly thereafter.
Another historical comparison can be drawn to Steve Jobs, who was ousted from his Apple CEO role but later returned after a few years. However, unlike Jobs, Mullenweg did not give the board any reason for his sudden ouster. The board's decision to force Mullenweg out was made without providing any justification, making their subsequent reversal even more puzzling.
When Automattic announced the CEO's removal, the board's statements were vague and uninformative, leading to much confusion and speculation. The board later released a statement expressing their support for Mullenweg, but it was equally cryptic and left many questions unanswered. To ensure transparency and accountability, it is crucial that boards provide clear and specific reasons for their decisions to hire or terminate a CEO, especially when such decisions involve a mandatory leave of absence. This level of transparency would help build trust between the board and the company's stakeholders.
Written by urgent.news from Computerworld's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
