Automattic CEO Calls Tumblr His ‘Biggest Failure’ so Far

Why It Matters

The admission underscores a strategic strain on Automattic’s finances and priorities, with the outcome affecting the company’s role in the open social web and its broader product roadmap.

Summary

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg called the company’s acquisition of Tumblr his “biggest failure,” saying a planned migration of Tumblr’s more than 500 million blogs to the WordPress back end has been paused because the platform is unprofitable and too costly to move and operate. Automattic has cut costs and reallocated resources away from Tumblr while prioritizing more profitable products like WordPress, Jetpack and WooCommerce, though Mullenweg said a successful migration would simplify maintenance and enable deeper integration with the fediverse. The admission underscores a strategic strain on Automattic’s finances and priorities, with the outcome affecting the company’s role in the open social web and its broader product roadmap.