Matt Mullenweg is a computer programmer, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of WordPress, one of the most widely used content management systems in the world. Born in Houston, Texas in 1984, Mullenweg showed an early interest in technology and programming. He began working with computers at the age of 11 and by 19, he had already co-created WordPress along with Mike Little.
Mullenweg’s success with WordPress has made him a very wealthy individual. In 2019, his net worth was estimated to be $400 million. This was largely due to his ownership stake in Automattic, the company that operates WordPress.com and several other web-related services. In 2021, Automattic raised $288 million in a funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $3 billion.
Aside from his work with WordPress, Mullenweg has also been involved in several other successful ventures. He co-founded the web development company Audrey Capital, which invests in and advises startups. He is also a board member of the non-profit organization Mozilla, which advocates for open and accessible technology.
Despite his wealth, Mullenweg is known for his humble lifestyle. He reportedly lives in a modest apartment in San Francisco and has pledged to donate the majority of his wealth to charitable causes. In a 2014 interview, he said that his personal goal was to “leave the world a little better than I found it.”
Overall, Matt Mullenweg’s success with WordPress and other ventures has earned him significant wealth, but he remains focused on using his resources to make a positive impact in the world.
Here’s a timeline of some key events in the life and career of Matt Mullenweg:
- 1984: Matt Mullenweg is born on January 11th in Houston, Texas.
- 1995: At age 11, Mullenweg begins working with computers and teaching himself to code.
- 2002: Mullenweg attends the University of Houston and begins contributing to the blogging platform b2/cafelog.
- 2003: Mullenweg, along with Mike Little, co-founds WordPress, a fork of b2/cafelog. The first version of WordPress is released on May 27th.
- 2005: Mullenweg drops out of college to work on WordPress full-time and founds Automattic, the company that operates WordPress.com and other web-related services.
- 2007: WordPress 2.0 is released, featuring a new admin interface and other improvements.
- 2010: Mullenweg receives the “Benevolent Dictator for Life” (BDFL) title for WordPress, acknowledging his leadership of the project.
- 2011: Mullenweg co-founds Audrey Capital, a web development company that invests in and advises startups.
- 2014: Mullenweg is named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list in the technology category.
- 2015: WordPress 4.0 is released, featuring an improved media library and other updates.
- 2017: WordPress powers 27% of all websites on the internet.
- 2019: Mullenweg’s net worth is estimated to be $400 million, largely due to his ownership stake in Automattic.
- 2021: Automattic raises $288 million in a funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $3 billion. Mullenweg continues to lead the company as CEO.
5 interesting facts about Matt Mullenweg:
- Mullenweg was home-schooled for most of his childhood, which allowed him to spend more time learning about technology and programming.
- He is a self-taught guitarist and has performed with bands in the past.
- Mullenweg is a photography enthusiast and has a personal blog where he shares his photos and thoughts.
- He is an advocate for remote work and has been working remotely since he founded Automattic in 2005.
- Mullenweg is a supporter of open source software and has been involved in several other open source projects in addition to WordPress.
5 quotes from Matt Mullenweg:
- “Success is not always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”
- “Technology is best when it brings people together.”
- “The greatest enemy of creativity is ‘good’.”
- “Open source is the idea that the code we write can be used by anyone and modified by anyone and distributed by anyone.”
- “I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances.”
