--- title: Automattic, the parent to WordPress, is a private company you should know about - The Hustle description: Automattic, the parent company to WordPress, recently executed a $250m buyback, valuing the company at $7.5B. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1273112953-News-Brief_2021-08-20T000928.850Z.webp --- # Automattic, the parent to WordPress, is a private company you should know about ![Rob Litterst](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Rob-Litterst-pic.png?width=48&height=48&name=Rob-Litterst-pic.png) [Rob Litterst](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/rob-litterst) [Rob Litterst Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/robbylit) Published: August 20, 2021 Updated: October 11, 2023 A long list of tech companies [entered](https://news.crunchbase.com/news/heres-whos-gone-public-in-2021-so-far/) the public market in 2021, but Automattic, the parent company behind WordPress, is private and thriving. ![Automattic, the parent to WordPress, is a private company you should know about](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1273112953-News-Brief_2021-08-20T000928.850Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1273112953-News-Brief_2021-08-20T000928.850Z.webp) Earlier this week, CEO Matt Mullenweg [announced](https://ma.tt/2021/08/funding-buyback-hiring/) the company’s latest move — a **$250m** share buyback valuing the firm at **$7.5B**. The buyback offers current and former employees a chance to cash out some of their equity holdings and increases the value of the company’s shares. #### **Just because they haven’t joined the IPO blitz…** … doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy. The firm has been [growing](https://ma.tt/2021/08/funding-buyback-hiring/) on all axes in 2021: - **Fundraising:** In February, the company raised **$288m** in a new round - **Hiring:** The company has had **371 accepted offers** through August - **Acquisitions:** The firm scooped Parse.ly, Day One, and Pocket Casts #### **These moves are helping Automattic build beyond WordPress** Automattic, founded in 2005, was ahead of the curve on trends like remote work, open-source, and freemium pricing strategies. Counting WordPress, the company has a dozen [products](https://automattic.com/) under its umbrella, including: - **WooCommerce:** Flexible, open-source ecommerce platform - **Longreads:** Online publisher curating the best long-form stories on the web - **Simplenote:** Synchronized digital note-taking app - **Gravatar:** Free service offering digital avatars to use across the web Along with the 3 they’ve made so far, the firm expects to add more acquisitions in the coming months. Automattic offers a strong rebuttal to the argument that blogging is dead. But with an ever-expanding portfolio, they’ll be prepared if and when that day comes. 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Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Rob Litterst", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/rob-litterst" }, "datePublished" : "2021-08-20T07:12:16.000Z", "headline" : "Automattic, the parent to WordPress, is a private company you should know about", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1273112953-News-Brief_2021-08-20T000928.850Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/08202021-automattic", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Rob Litterst", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/rob-litterst" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T20:40:30+0000", "datePublished" : "2021-08-20T07:12:16+0000", "headline" : "Automattic, the parent to WordPress, is a private company you should know about", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1273112953-News-Brief_2021-08-20T000928.850Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```