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Last I checked Automattic is a privately held for profit company. One could argue that it’s a private equity too. Just using different words to twist a narrativ

Last I checked Automattic is a privately held for profit company. One could argue that it’s a private equity too. Just using different words to twist a narrative.

throw16180339 2y ago
Good to know, thanks!
mfkp 2y ago
https://thewpminute.com/private-equity-and-the-soul-of-wordpress/ https://thewpminute.com/private-equity-and-the-soul-of-wordp...
toomuchtodo 2y ago
This is not the same. Private equity extracts as an investment, Automattic is an ecosystem participant (that happens to be privately held) that actively contributes to the community. That doesn’t mean Matt hasn’t taken things too far (I leave that to be determined by civil courts and the Wordpress community, no dog in the fight myself), but there is a difference, and it is very important to clearly delineate who is receiving benefit for value realized economically.
- woleium 2y ago
  not trying to be controversial, and I know some private investment firms are understandably not well regarded, but there are plenty you don’t hear about that are quite pleasant to work with
- immibis 2y ago
  Automattic is now attempting to extract an investment, and in a much worse way than WPE ever did.
- everforward 2y ago
  I would argue that attempting to strong arm a competitor into paying for your open source product and then doing all of this when they won’t is way farther down the late stage capitalism road than most private equity companies. That’s probably mostly because the private equity folks are just better at extracting money without causing an international scene. Matt’s ineptitude doesn’t make it categorically different, though.
  - toomuchtodo 2y ago
    I can understand the desire to prevent freeloading, but not agree with the methods to encourage better behavior. Economic systems are hard and imperfect.
- philistine 2y ago
  > Automattic is an ecosystem participant They were, until the CEO started burning decades of goodwill. At this point I'm looking at what I should do to get off Automattic for my website, I'm legit scared plugin developers are going to get spooked.

Last I checked Automattic is a privately held for profit company. One could argue that it’s a private equity too. Just using different words to twist a narrative.

throw16180339 2y ago

Good to know, thanks!

mfkp 2y ago

https://thewpminute.com/private-equity-and-the-soul-of-wordpress/ https://thewpminute.com/private-equity-and-the-soul-of-wordp...

toomuchtodo 2y ago

This is not the same. Private equity extracts as an investment, Automattic is an ecosystem participant (that happens to be privately held) that actively contributes to the community. That doesn’t mean Matt hasn’t taken things too far (I leave that to be determined by civil courts and the Wordpress community, no dog in the fight myself), but there is a difference, and it is very important to clearly delineate who is receiving benefit for value realized economically.

woleium 2y ago
not trying to be controversial, and I know some private investment firms are understandably not well regarded, but there are plenty you don’t hear about that are quite pleasant to work with
immibis 2y ago
Automattic is now attempting to extract an investment, and in a much worse way than WPE ever did.
everforward 2y ago
I would argue that attempting to strong arm a competitor into paying for your open source product and then doing all of this when they won’t is way farther down the late stage capitalism road than most private equity companies. That’s probably mostly because the private equity folks are just better at extracting money without causing an international scene. Matt’s ineptitude doesn’t make it categorically different, though.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  I can understand the desire to prevent freeloading, but not agree with the methods to encourage better behavior. Economic systems are hard and imperfect.
philistine 2y ago
> Automattic is an ecosystem participant They were, until the CEO started burning decades of goodwill. At this point I'm looking at what I should do to get off Automattic for my website, I'm legit scared plugin developers are going to get spooked.