WordPress Foundation

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Owns WordPress trademark, licenses commercial use exclusively to Automattic

Silver Lake invested $250 million in WP Engine in 2018, taking majority control of the managed WordPress hosting company. Six years later, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg called WP Engine a cancer to WordPress and banned them from WordPress.org resources. This triggered a legal battle that has split the community powering 43% of the web.

Updated May 19