It didn’t make a lot of sense when we heard that Automattic, the company that created the WordPress.com blogging platform and oversees the WordPress.org open source project, turned down a $200 million buyout offer.
But apparently the investors weren’t ready to cash in their chips yet, and made CEO Toni Schneider and founder Matt Mullenweg a counter offer they couldn’t refuse: take a new round of financing, led by existing investor Polaris, and use most of that new money to cash out the founders.
The size of the round is reported to be as high as $50 million. It’s unclear how much of that goes to the founders, we’re just hearing “most of it.”
The company won’t confirm the deal – Schneider returned my email, saying “Can’t comment on anything at this time.” More as this develops.