Automattic interim CFO resigns just weeks after boardroom shakeup

Automattic’s interim chief financial officer Jeremy Klaperman has left his position after less than a month, TechCrunch has learned. Klaperman had been elevated to the new job last month after the governance crisis at the WordPress.com parent company, which saw its entire board either quit or be fired.

The company confirmed the departure with the following statement, shared by Automattic’s director of communications Megan Fox: “Automattic will always be grateful for Jeremy Klaperman’s leadership. We wish him the best of luck on his next endeavor.”

Before serving as the organization’s interim finance chief, Klaperman had served as the CFO of Automattic’s VIP Enterprise business unit. 

He was meant to replace the former CFO, Mark Davies, who had briefly become Automattic’s CFO after the company’s board members voted to put CEO Matt Mullenweg on leave in September. Within 33 hours of the board’s decision, Mullenweg retook the CEO role, and the board was wiped clean.

Automattic’s chief legal officer Andy Missan had also left the company alongside Davies. Both executives had signed reciprocal severance deals during Mullenweg’s short leave of absence, TechCrunch previously reported. Automattic’s new board of directors was announced in late September, and includes best-selling science-fiction author Hugh Howey; two co-founders of the now-defunct social app IRL, Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai; plus author Amy Chan.

A source at Automattic told TechCrunch that Klaperman was upset the board was considering external candidates for the CFO role. Though he was announced internally as interim CFO, the board never legally approved his title, the source said. In addition, there was a disagreement with Mullenweg over a work project related to employee performance reviews, which led to Mullenweg’s demotion of Klaperman back to his former position at VIP. Klaperman resigned shortly thereafter.

Automattic’s spokesperson did not comment on the reason for Klaperman’s departure. The company is still performing an external search for a qualified CFO candidate, we understand.

After publication, the company issued a statement via X post, which implies that Klaperman was offended by the board’s search for external CFO candidates.

It read, “At Automattic, we consider it best practice to evaluate external candidates for critical roles alongside internal people stepping up. We are always talking to and recruiting the best talent. Sometimes people are offended or surprised by this and they resign, sometimes it has led to amazing mentoring or advising situations. We won’t comment on any specific person, but as a company we’re always trying to optimize and redefine ourselves to serve our customers better and promote the ideals we aspire to around Open Source, freedom, liberty, autonomy, and hackers.”

When the company originally announced Klaperman’s new role as interim CFO internally on Automattic’s Slack, Mullenweg reiterated that he had “100% confidence” in the company’s cash and financial position.

Updated after publication with more information about Klaperman’s departure.