In Inc. Magazine
From my article in Inc., posted Dec. 19, 2024
Matt Mullenweg has been referred to by many as the “benevolent dictator for life,” or BDFL, of WordPress, the software that powers almost half the web. But in recent months, as a spat with an underdog rival unfolded on social media, Mullenweg definitely has come across as more dictatorial than benevolent. “I don’t identify with the term ‘dictator,’” he says. “A nicer way of saying it would be ‘enlightened leader.’” But just how tightly Mullenweg controls WordPress, and how aggressively he’s willing to wield that control, has caught many by surprise over the past few months. And it all began when Mullenweg got very annoyed, very publicly, at a $400 million-per-year company called WP Engine….Read more
David H. Freedman 