Matt Mullenweg

The Company Behind WordPress Invests in Newspaper Toolmaker OwnLocal

Liz Gannes in Media on October 19, 2011 at 7:00 am PT

The open source blogging start-up Automattic has made its first investment with OwnLocal, which offers tools for newspapers to help local businesses with their Web presence.

WordPress.com Suffers Security Breach

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on April 13, 2011 at 11:00 am PT

Automattic, which hosts WordPress.com and several other services, has come under attack–a root break-in providing deep access to its systems. The effects are still being assessed.

Stealthy Start-Up Sponge Builds Community Q&A for Companies

Liz Gannes in Social on December 22, 2010 at 2:25 pm PT

I recently stumbled across a venture-backed start-up that has managed to keep itself out of the news despite doing what appears to be pretty noteworthy stuff. Sponge, which calls itself “the future of Q&A,” powers pages for businesses to share and build community knowledge.

Real-Time Web Analytics Start-Up Chartbeat Tallies Up More Investors

Peter Kafka in Media on September 22, 2010 at 9:16 am PT

Chartbeat, the real-time Web-publishing analytics service adds a few more celebrity angels to its funding round. And General Manager Tony Haile explains what, exactly, Web publishers are supposed to do with real-time data, anyway.

The Start Project Gets Start-Up Stars as Advisers, Including Stone, Sacca, Mullenweg

Kara Swisher in News on February 1, 2010 at 1:57 pm PT

A new Silicon Valley business incubator called The Start Project has recruited a high-profile group of entrepreneurs as advisers, which it announced today on its Web site. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, former Google exec and angel investor Chris Sacca, as well as Mike Tatum and David Liu, have all agreed to help the company’s start-ups before and during their creation.

AOL Readies Board Picks for Spinoff–While Holding Off Search Suitors (Plus, BoomTown Director Choices!)

Kara Swisher in News on September 23, 2009 at 9:01 pm PT

According to sources close to the situation, AOL has been busy selecting the board for the company, which is still set to spin itself off by year’s end–even as it slows down a decision on a new search deal with either current partner Google or a more emboldened Microsoft. AOL is using Spencer Stuart in the search for directors, led by well-known headhunter Jim Citrin, sources said, and the company has already settled on several outside candidates.

Kara Visits Burda's DLD Luncheon in Silicon Valley!

Kara Swisher in News on September 17, 2008 at 3:23 am PT

Germany’s Hubert Burda Media threw a big luncheon in Palo Alto yesterday, which was stuffed full with Silicon Valley types. It was hosted by the company’s Steffi Czerny and Maria Burda, the wife of CEO and owner Hubert Burda, as well as well-known Israeli investor Yossi Vardi. Burda runs an annual digital conference in Munich, called DLD (Digital, Life, Design), even though the media giant is best known for its old-line magazines about fashion, cooking and crafts. So here’s the video!

WordCamp 2008 San Francisco

Voices, Digital Media Producer in News on August 18, 2008 at 11:26 am PT

The third annual WordCamp San Francisco was held this past weekend, bringing together WordPress users and developers to discuss the past, present and future of their favorite Web publishing platform. Since its humble beginnings as a fork of the b2\cafelog blog software in 2003, WordPress has grown to become one of the most popular blog publishing platforms.