Automattic’s interim chief financial officer Jeremy Klaperman has left his position after less than a month, TechCrunch has learned. Klaperman had been elevated to the new job last month after the governance crisis at the WordPress.com parent company, which saw its entire board either quit or be fired.
The company confirmed the departure with the following statement, shared by Automattic’s director of communications Megan Fox: “Automattic will always be grateful for Jeremy Klaperman’s leadership. We wish him the best of luck on his next endeavor.”
Before serving as the organization’s interim finance chief, Klaperman had served as the CFO of Automattic’s VIP Enterprise business unit.
He had replaced the former CFO Mark Davies, who had briefly become Automattic’s CFO after the company’s board members voted to put CEO Matt Mullenweg on leave in September. Within 33 hours of the board’s decision, Mullenweg retook the CEO role, and the board was wiped clean.
Automattic’s chief legal officer Andy Missan had also left the company alongside Davies. Both executives had signed reciprocal severance deals during Mullenweg’s short leave of absence, TechCrunch previously reported. Automattic’s new board of directors was announced in late September, and includes best-selling science-fiction author Hugh Howey; two co-founders of the now-defunct social app IRL, Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai; plus author Amy Chan.
It’s unclear why Klaperman chose to leave Automattic, but sources told TechCrunch that the decision came after he was demoted back to his original role at VIP. (As an interim CFO, he could have been replaced by a permanent hire, but nothing on that front has yet to be announced.) Automattic’s spokesperson did not comment on the reason for Klaperman’s departure.
When Mullenweg originally announced Klaperman’s new role as interim CFO on Automattic’s Slack, Mullenweg reiterated that he had “100% confidence” in the company’s cash and financial position.
