Automattic, the parent to WordPress, is a private company you should know about

A long list of tech companies entered the public market in 2021, but Automattic, the parent company behind WordPress, is private and thriving.

Earlier this week, CEO Matt Mullenweg announced 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 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 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.