Automattic Acquires Incsub (and WPMU DEV!)

This post was originally published on April 1, 2014. 

Big news to share with everyone today, Incsub, the parent company of this site, has been acquired by Automattic, the people behind WordPress.com!

I know it may come as a surprise to a lot of you, but to us, and as I was saying to Matt the other day during our weekly Turkish bath, it’s really been on the cards since the start – in fact, as we shared a sweaty handshake on the deal, he commented that the news would, in many ways, come across as ‘the sound of inevitability’.

So, why were Automattic interested in us?

Well, besides us being the premier plugin developers on the web, having the largest read blog in the area and coming out with products that in many ways look like the future of WordPress, in fact this is more of an ‘acquihire’ – here’s how the deal breaks down.

WPMU DEV Blog Team To Take Over Haiku Production

Joe, Rae and Chris were of particular interest to the Automatticians, and will, as of today be moved entirely off writing duties here on the WPMU DEV blog, and into the critical operation of producing Haikus for various Automattic related projects.

Commenting on the move, technical expert Chris D Knowles commented:

Haiku nirvana,
Like the perfect tech wedding,
Needs patience and a beard

You can now get all your WP goodness at WP Pravda Tavern, just like God Matt intended originally.

Support Team To Attack WP.org Forums

The full force of the WPMU DEV Support team is to be thrown directly at the WordPress.org forums.

Upon initial posting, every user will be congratulated and thanked for using the forums in under-an-hour response times, unpaid volunteer plugin and theme developers will now be harassed continually through Asana, Helpscout, Email, IM, Phone and in person until they resolve those bloody tickets.

News that WPMU DEV enforcer Timothy Bowers would be prowling the globe, cattle prod in hand, to ensure proper attention to detail and quality, was greeted with mixed emotions by existing forum volunteers.

Automattic Developers To Join WPMU DEV Team – Switch To Premium Plugins

While WordPress.com has been a successful project, clearly it hasn’t quite reached the heights of premium plugin development, and as a result Mullenweg stated that the new company would be pivoting entirely towards the production and support of premium plugins.

“It’s not quite as sexy as being a top 5 website”, Mullenweg didn’t comment, “but I feel like it’s the future, I mean without reliable, safe, always updated and improved premium plugins, how could WordPress succeed beyond being a simple blogging platform for individuals.”

WordPress.com will be quietly phased out over the next decade as the focus shifts to WPMU DEV.

Farmer To Become Audrey CEO

“Look, there’s nobody I’d trust more, or feel I’d work better with, than James – and that’s why I’d like to entrust my baby to him” Matt failed to mention when asked about probably the most exciting news so far to come out of the deal.

“I really feel that so far the company has just been flailing about, engaging in vanity projects, investing on some sort of power trip just to give me a profile” he absolutely didn’t state. “James will be able to come in, give us focus and direct our activity towards a more worthwhile and practical goal, he’s exactly the man we’ve been looking for to help me stop wasting my millions” we completely made out up afterwards.

When asked how long the transition would take, Farmer’s new deputy, Toni Schneider, suggested that it’d probably be complete ‘within the day’, before bashing off a quick email to the company lawyer.

We’ll keep you updated :)