Thread

Automattic has a new board after failed attempt to put CEO on leave

148 points · 194 comments · ilamont

xnx · 1790439571 · focus · HN ↗
Fireship pointed out that the board members gave themselves a generous severance package in the very brief interim, so that was very possibly the whole plan.
1. kingstnap · 1790443469 · focus · HN ↗
  Bizzare self dealing.
  Vote out dude who has 84% shareholder control.
  Immediately sign yourself a golden parachute deal for 8 million right before getting fired the next day.
  Seems like complete breach of fiduciary duty.
  1. tjwebbnorfolk · 1790457922 · focus · HN ↗
    fiduciary to whom? everyone who invested in the company knew they were buying in to something where one person controlled it.
    hiddencost · 1790458734 · focus · HN ↗
    ... You still are supposed to act in the best interests of your share holders.
    "Obviously the CEO was going to break the law, anyone who thought otherwise was a fool." is not grounds for voiding the legal obligations that CEO has to his shareholders.
    FireBeyond · 1790460535 · focus · HN ↗
    Says who? If one thing all this legal stuff has surfaced, it’s that has been entirely … opaque … about who is what and owns what. He’s said WP.org is him, personally and nothing to do with the foundation despite it being hosted on foundation servers, made comments about the foundation being independent when it’s just him, a buddy, and another awol buddy. And declined to mention that when Automattic “gifted” WP to the Foundation “so it could be free from corporate interests” that the Foundations first act, that same day, was to grant Automattic a free, irrevocable, exclusive, universal license.
    And that WPE didn’t owe the Foundation anything for their alleged issues, but their for profit competitor, his private company.
    Matt has used “foundation”, wp.org, wp.com and Automattic interchangeably for years based on whichever definition was most convenient to him that day, so I don’t really see “it’s clear exactly what people were getting into”.
    ValentineC · 1790461629 · focus · HN ↗
    > He’s said WP.org is him, personally and nothing to do with the foundation despite it being hosted on foundation servers, made comments about the foundation being independent when it’s just him, a buddy, and another awol buddy.
    I've followed the drama since the early days, but I don't remember anything about WP.org being hosted on Foundation servers.
    If anything, I have no idea what the purposes of the Foundation are/were, except to hold the trademark, and being a front for WordCamps in the early days.
    <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1g40522/501c3_as_a_personal_fiefdom/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1g40522/501c3_as...
    FireBeyond · 1790472012 · focus · HN ↗
    WPE’s filings, quoted Matt saying that, and then pointed out that the WP.org IP address was within the Foundation’s AS.
    rcxdude · 1790502875 · focus · HN ↗
    It's a general protection meant to avoid a small majority from colluding to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the shareholders. It definitely seems to be getting eroded at this point, though, as multiple huge tech companies have managed to keep under the control of a single individual and investors seem content to just vote in a popularity contest where their money gets traded for tickets that don't represent any meaningful control of the asset they supposedly represent.

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