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Automattic CEO describes Tumblr as his ‘greatest disappointment’ to date

Automattic CEO describes Tumblr as his ‘greatest disappointment’ to date

Bitget-RWA2025/10/20 16:54
By:Bitget-RWA

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, described acquiring Tumblr as his greatest misstep so far—though he emphasized he hasn't abandoned the project. He made these remarks during a live Town Hall at the recent WordCamp Canada 2025, where he engaged with the WordPress open source community.

Mullenweg pointed out that Tumblr still operates on a separate technical foundation from WordPress, which he had originally planned to change by moving Tumblr’s backend onto WordPress infrastructure. However, this significant migration was paused earlier this year, as the expense of transferring Tumblr’s 500 million blogs proved too high, especially since Tumblr remains unprofitable and relies on revenue from Automattic’s other products to stay afloat.

To cut expenses, the company has implemented layoffs and shifted Tumblr’s resources to more lucrative areas, but these strategies have not yet yielded results.

Addressing these issues during the Town Hall, Mullenweg stated, “I need to migrate [Tumblr] to WordPress, but it’s a massive task. There are actually over 500 million blogs, and from a business perspective, it’s costing us far more to operate than it brings in.”

Because of this, Automattic has had to focus on other initiatives to help make Tumblr viable, he explained.

“At this point, it’s probably my biggest regret or missed chance, but we’re continuing to work on it,” he said.

If Tumblr were eventually migrated to WordPress’s backend, it would be easier and less expensive to manage. Additionally, this move would help Tumblr become more integrated with the open social web, or fediverse, which was one of the intended benefits of the migration.

During his presentation, Mullenweg also talked about other ongoing projects at Automattic, such as WordPress, Jetpack, and WooCommerce. He highlighted Playground, which allows users to run WordPress entirely in a browser, and Beeper, Automattic’s all-in-one messaging app. He noted that Beeper will soon support bridges to other messaging platforms, including KakaoTalk and messaging features from dating apps.

He also addressed artificial intelligence, remarking that “we can’t put the genie back in the bottle” with this technology, and described companies like OpenAI as “too big to fail.” For the WordPress theme directory, he’s considering tagging AI-generated images to help users filter their searches, rather than banning themes made with AI.

Mullenweg also responded to a question about the legal dispute with WP Engine, a WordPress hosting provider that Automattic has criticized for benefiting from the open source ecosystem without contributing back. When asked about individuals who take advantage of the community, Mullenweg clarified that he prefers to talk about “bad actions” rather than labeling people as “bad actors.”

He proposed that Automattic should introduce more incentives to promote positive contributions, such as awarding higher rankings in the WordPress directory or showcase to certain users. He also urged the community to “vote with your wallet” by choosing not to support companies that don’t act ethically.

At one point, a court ordered the site to be taken down, which Mullenweg described to the audience as an attempt to “suppress free speech and transparency.”

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Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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