Automattic, Inc. is a web development corporation founded in August 2005. It is most notable for WordPress.com(a free blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (open source blogging software). The company’s name plays on its founder’s first name, Matt.
The company has 478 employees. Its culture was the topic of a participative journalism project by Scott Berkun, entitled The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work. Automattic raised US$317.3 million in five funding rounds. In the last round, on May 2014, the company was valued at US$1.16 billion USD.
Projects
Other projects include:
- After the Deadline – online proofreading tool
- Akismet – anti-comment spam system capable of integration with many blogging platforms and forums
- bbPress – forum software
- blo.gs – RSS feed aggregator
- BuddyPress – social networking plugin suite
- Cloudup – file sharing application
- Ping-O-Matic – pinging service
- GlotPress – collaborative translation tool
- Gravatar – globally recognized avatars
- IntenseDebate – commenting tools
- Longreads – journalism aggregator[4]
- PollDaddy – polls and survey tools
- Poster – A blogging app for IOS[5]
- Simplenote – note-taking and sync service based on another Automattic project simperium.com
- Scroll Kit – A code-free web design tool[6]
- WordPress.com VIP – enterprise services for WordPress websites
- VaultPress – backup and security service for WordPress sites
- VideoPress – hosted HD video for WordPress sites
- Jetpack by WordPress.com – WordPress.com features for WordPress.org sites
- WooThemes – Premium WordPress Themes, Plugins & eCommerce
- WooCommerce – WordPress eCommerce
Automattic’s employees include Matthew Mullenweg and Ryan Boren, two of the primary developers of WordPress.
On January 11, 2006, it was announced that Toni Schneider would be leaving Yahoo! to become CEO of Automattic. He was previously CEO of Oddpost before it was acquired by Yahoo!, where he had continued as a senior executive.
In April 2006, it was revealed, through a Regulation D filing, that Automattic raised approximately $1.1 million in funding,[9] which Mullenweg addressed in his blog. Investors were Polaris Ventures, True Ventures, Radar Partners, and CNET.
On September 23, 2008, Automattic announced acquiring IntenseDebate.[10] Two months later, on November 15, 2008, Automattic acquired PollDaddy
On September 9, 2010, Automattic gave the WordPress trademark and control over bbPress and BuddyPress to the WordPress Foundation.
On May 19, 2015, Automattic announced the acquisition of WooThemes, including their flagship product WooCommerce.
source: wikipedia
