Automattic — the company behind WordPress.com

Automattic Inc. was founded in August 2005, with Matt Mullenweg as founder and chief executive. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and describes itself as privately held and independent, in a later-stage growth phase. Its press fact sheet lists more than 1,447 employees working from 81 countries and speaking 107 languages. Named investors include Tiger Global Management, Salesforce Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, ICONIQ Capital, True Ventures, Wellington Management, BlackRock, Alta Park Capital, Addition, Schonfeld and the New York Times Company.

Automattic states that its mission is to democratise publishing, commerce and messaging, so that anyone with a story can tell it and anyone with a product can sell it. The company frames its work around the open web and says the vast majority of its output is available under the General Public License (GPL), meaning the code can be downloaded and inspected. It summarises this position with the line "We don't make software for free, we make it for freedom." Automattic also identifies itself as a major contributor to the WordPress open source project and asks journalists to distinguish WordPress.com, its hosted product, from the open source WordPress software.

• Mission: democratise publishing, commerce and messaging
• Most work released under the GPL
• Major contributor to the WordPress open source project

Automattic's family of products spans publishing, commerce, messaging, security and media. WordPress.com provides hosted websites and blogs, WooCommerce supports online selling, Jetpack adds security, growth and speed features to WordPress sites, and WordPress VIP serves enterprise customers. Other products include Tumblr, Day One, Pocket Casts, Beeper, Akismet, Longreads, Newspack and Gravatar. The company also contributes to non-profit and open source projects.

• WordPress.com — hosted blogs and websites
• WooCommerce — ecommerce plugin
• Jetpack — security, growth and speed plugin
• WordPress VIP — enterprise platform
• Tumblr, Day One, Pocket Casts, Beeper
• Akismet — spam filtering
• Gravatar, Longreads, Newspack, Crowdsignal, IntenseDebate, Sensei LMS
• Open source projects: WordPress.org, P2, BuddyPress, bbPress, WP Job Manager, Five for the Future

Automattic has been a fully distributed company from day one and describes itself as remote-first since its founding in 2005. It says the model allows global hiring and is efficient and sustainable, and that employees are not told where or when to work; the company values impact over hours. Internal collaboration runs on P2s for written, asynchronous discussion, Slack for synchronous conversation and Zoom for video meetings. Employees call themselves Automatticians and refer to a shared statement of values, the Automattic Creed.

• Fully distributed and remote-first since 2005
• Asynchronous working, valuing impact over hours
• Internal tools: P2, Slack, Zoom
• Staff known as Automatticians

Automattic advertises remote job opportunities open to applicants working from anywhere and publishes a list of current openings. Its careers pages state a headcount of 1,416 Automatticians across 83 countries speaking 107 languages. The company documents its recruitment approach on a dedicated hiring page, which explains its philosophy and includes accounts from staff about the interview experience, and it describes what candidates can expect during a trial project.

• Remote roles open to applicants worldwide
• Published open jobs list
• Documented hiring process and trial period

A8c Ventures is Automattic's investment arm, which invests in promising private companies working in areas the company considers important. Stated focus areas are open source software, distributed work and the WordPress ecosystem. The ventures page invites prospective companies to get in touch and lists portfolio investments, including Beeper.

• A8c Ventures invests in private companies
• Focus: open source, distributed work, the WordPress ecosystem

Alongside its distributed workforce, Automattic maintains a space in New York City used for community events, co-working, art shows and cultural gatherings open to Automatticians and friends of the company. Its events listing covers gatherings such as Woo community meetups and Automattic Connect receptions held around WordCamp US and WordCamp Europe, as well as fireside chats and documentary screenings. The press page provides a contact route for media enquiries, a news sign-up, downloadable logos and company photographs.

• NYC space for community events and co-working
• Woo Community Meetups at WordCamp events
• Automattic Connect receptions
• Press contact, news updates and logo downloads

Automattic publishes a Privacy Policy setting out principles on the collection, processing and storage of personal information, including a commitment to store data only as long as there is a reason to keep it and to resist overreaching government demands. The policy covers its websites, mobile applications, products and services, and applies to job applicants as well as users. A separate Cookie Policy explains how Automattic, its partners and users of its services deploy cookies and the controls available, and a further privacy notice addresses visitors to sites run by Automattic's users. Trademark and copyright policies are also published.

• Privacy Policy covering websites, apps and services
• Cookie Policy with user controls
• Privacy Notice for visitors to users' sites
• Copyright and trademark policies