How Matt Mullenweg Turned a Hobby Blog into a $7.5 B Open‑Source Empire

WordPress is used by many to build blogs or corporate sites; this article introduces the real story of its developers and creator.

Background

Matt Mullenweg is the founder of WordPress.com and its parent company Automattic, which is currently valued at $7.5 billion.

Automattic recently bought back $250 million of stock from its employees.

About 40 % of all websites on the internet are built with WordPress. The official site WordPress.org was originally created as a nonprofit blogging platform.

Matt enjoys tea, tequila, and chicken nuggets. He is a blog enthusiast and open‑source software lover who wanted to create a network platform that anyone could use to start a blog.

He turned down many offers from tech giants because joining them would have required him to give up his intellectual property.

Automattic now employs roughly 2,000 people worldwide, distributed across many locations.

This article tells the entrepreneurial story of how Matt Mullenweg built WordPress from scratch.

Matt Mullenweg’s Childhood

Matt and his sister grew up in Houston, Texas. His mother ran the household while his father worked as a computer engineer for an oil company.

In his teens, Matt wanted to become a musician, especially a saxophonist, following his father’s interest.

He attended a performing‑arts high school where the artistic atmosphere encouraged him to play saxophone for money in various Italian restaurants.

Why Not Pursue Music Professionally?

“Some kids are prodigies, the profession is respectable, but you have to work extremely hard to reach the top… I wasn’t the best in class, so I refocused my goals.”

Matt’s father bought him a computer for programming and work, later upgrading it. Matt began using the computer seriously.

Initially he played games, but over time he became involved in various web communities.

Communities form around shared interests. It’s about other people; you’ll meet about 20 others… there’s a fun thing called IRC, a text‑based chat room.

How Matt Learned to Build Websites

Around 2000, creating a website was far more complex than today.

Matt learned to build sites in high school, using books and extensive trial‑and‑error.

At the time, many site‑building tools existed, such as GeoCities, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc. He often clicked through all the buttons of a software to see what happened.

Matt also launched a photography site called “footman” using the open‑source PHP script Gallery, which pre‑dated Flickr and Facebook.

Matt and Strangers Create WordPress.org

While learning programming, Matt contributed to an open‑source blog platform called b2 cafelog. He liked the platform and made code changes, which the lead developer Mitchell appreciated, inviting Matt to submit code.

Matt’s code was quickly accepted and became part of b2’s official release, running on thousands of sites.

Matt continued contributing to b2, but in 2002 Mitchell left, halting further upgrades. The community paused contributions.

How Mike Discovered Matt

Matt blogged about his experiences with b2, publishing a post titled “The Dilemma of Blog Software.” He expressed a desire for a beautiful, well‑typed platform that was as simple as Blogger and as flexible as b2.

Because b2 was GPL‑licensed, its code remained available even after Mitchell’s departure.

Matt’s post attracted a comment from Mike Little, who offered to work with him.

Matt and Mike initially used b2 cafelog code as a fork to build a new project, communicating via IRC and exchanging code snippets for years without meeting in person.

Where the Name WordPress.org Came From

Mike and Matt branched b2, and several other forks emerged. Matt was an active member of the blog community, meeting others in cafés and bars.

A blogger named Christin suggested the name “WordPress,” which Matt liked and adopted.

Many former b2 contributors migrated to the new project, which was not a commercial venture but a hobby aimed at making blogging easier and more fun.

Revolutionizing WordPress

In May 2003, Mike and Matt officially launched WordPress.org worldwide, exciting bloggers everywhere.

Developers from various online communities contributed enthusiastically. Matt recruited former b2 colleagues to help, expanding the core team from a handful to hundreds of contributors.

As WordPress grew, server costs rose. Without AWS, they rented a single server for $425 per month.

Matt funded Automattic’s early operations with his own credit cards and salary from CNET.

Yahoo, CNET, and Job Offers

Matt received numerous offers from tech giants, including Yahoo and CNET. CNET offered about $90,000 per year, while Matt earned roughly $1,000 per month at the time.

“They allowed me to keep the IP of the code I was creating… I value intellectual property.”

At CNET, Matt worked as a project manager, leveraging his WordPress experience to help the team set up quickly, while still contributing to the non‑profit WordPress.org.

Launching the Commercial WordPress.com

Matt pitched CNET’s CEO, saying WordPress.org was cool but complex, and proposed a one‑click solution for users to start blogs.

CNET declined, but Matt founded Automattic and hired a small team to create commercial add‑ons and hosting services, making WordPress accessible to non‑developers.

Akismet and Anti‑Spam

Matt later left CNET to focus on Automattic, creating Akismet, an anti‑spam service named after his sister. Akismet uses machine learning to analyze millions of blog spam patterns, automatically approving legitimate mail and rejecting spam.

Akismet is free for personal use and paid for commercial use.

Funding and Leadership

Automattic’s employees are distributed worldwide. Monthly revenue was about $20,000 at one point, prompting Matt to secure cash reserves.

Investors wanted a CEO and CTO, but Matt initially resisted. He later hired Tony Schneider, former Yahoo executive, as CEO to help raise funds.

Growth and Valuation

WordPress.com grew through word‑of‑mouth and the “powered by WordPress” footer links.

In 2007, Matt received a $200 million acquisition offer for WordPress.com, which he declined, preferring to continue building.

By 2021, Automattic announced a valuation of $7.5 billion, having acquired WooCommerce, Tumblr, Simplenote, and more.

Author: 春晓