WooCommerce’s Alleged Automattic Fire Sale Is Rattling Its Plugin Economy

Something is stirring inside Automattic’s Austin and San Francisco offices, and it’s making WooCommerce’s sprawling plugin partner network deeply uncomfortable. Sources close to the matter say that Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has had preliminary conversations with at least two private equity firms and one major SaaS platform operator about a potential carve-out or outright sale of WooCommerce — the open-source e-commerce engine that powers an estimated 3.8 million active storefronts globally as of Q1 2026.

None of this is confirmed. Automattic has not issued any public statement, and WooCommerce’s own leadership team — reportedly still helmed by Paul Maiorana, who took over as GM following a turbulent 2024 — has said nothing publicly. But the chatter is loud enough that several mid-size plugin vendors have quietly begun diversifying their revenue away from WooCommerce-native extensions and toward Shopify app equivalents, according to three separate agency sources who spoke with Ecommerce Times on condition of anonymity.

What’s Actually Being Shopped — and to Whom?

The alleged conversations are reportedly structured around a partial divestiture model rather than a clean acquisition. Under one scenario described by a source familiar with the discussions, Automattic would retain WordPress.com hosting and Jetpack while spinning WooCommerce into a standalone commercial entity — potentially with a PE backer taking a majority stake.

Names circulating in the rumor mill include Vista Equity Partners, which has a well-documented appetite for SaaS businesses with large installed bases, and Thoma Bravo, whose portfolio already includes several adjacent commerce infrastructure plays. A third scenario, described as “more speculative” by one source, involves a strategic acquirer — with Salesforce Commerce Cloud and SAP Hybris both mentioned, though neither fits neatly given their enterprise focus.

“The core issue is monetization,” said one veteran WooCommerce agency owner who runs a 40-person shop in Toronto. “Automattic built something massive but never figured out how to extract sustainable revenue from it at scale. A PE buyer would fix that fast — probably by killing free tiers and forcing SaaS pricing on extensions that are currently one-time purchases.”

💡 Article Summary

Key Insights

1

What’s Actually Being Shopped — and to Whom?

2

Why Would Automattic Sell One of Its Crown Jewels?

3

How Is the Plugin Ecosystem Actually Responding?

4

What Does This Mean for Merchants Currently on WooCommerce?

5

Is WooCommerce’s Open-Source Model Ultimately Its Achilles Heel?

Source: Ecommerce Times

That anxiety is shared widely. The WooCommerce extension marketplace generates estimated annual revenue in the $180M–$240M range when factoring in third-party plugin sales routed through Woo’s own marketplace and direct developer channels, according to industry analysts who track WordPress commerce. A restructuring that imposed platform fees or mandatory revenue sharing would significantly compress margins for the estimated 1,200-plus plugin developers who depend on Woo for primary income.

Why Would Automattic Sell One of Its Crown Jewels?

The backstory matters here. Automattic’s 2023–2025 period was defined by aggressive product expansion — acquiring Beeper, doubling down on Tumblr, and investing heavily in WordPress VIP for enterprise. Revenue grew, but sources suggest the company’s cost structure expanded faster than its top line, creating pressure from early investors and board members who want cleaner unit economics before any potential liquidity event.

Mullenweg has also been publicly consumed with the WordPress-WP Engine legal dispute that dominated 2024 and bled into 2025 — a saga that, according to several WordPress insiders, distracted leadership at exactly the wrong moment. While Automattic was fighting that battle, Shopify quietly ate further into WooCommerce’s SMB heartland, and platforms like Wix eCommerce and Squarespace Online Store made gains in the sub-$500K GMV tier.

“Matt built WordPress into a cathedral. But WooCommerce always felt like a bazaar that got annexed. The cultures never fully merged,” said a former Automattic product manager who left the company in late 2024. “Spinning it off isn’t crazy — it might actually be the right move for both sides.”

What makes this particularly sensitive is WooCommerce’s open-source identity. Unlike Shopify, which is a closed commercial platform, WooCommerce is GPL-licensed. Any new owner would technically be constrained from locking down the core codebase — but a sophisticated acquirer could monetize aggressively through hosting, managed services, and premium extensions while keeping the open-source label as a marketing fig leaf. Several plugin developers Ecommerce Times spoke with say that’s exactly what they fear.

How Is the Plugin Ecosystem Actually Responding?

The reaction across WooCommerce’s partner network ranges from quiet contingency planning to outright panic, depending on how Woo-dependent a given vendor’s revenue is. Here’s what’s reportedly happening on the ground:

• YITH (Italy-based plugin developer): Sources say the team has accelerated its Shopify app roadmap, with two previously shelved apps now reportedly in late-stage development for the Shopify App Store.
• WP Swings: The Delhi-based plugin house, which generates an estimated $4M–$6M annually from WooCommerce extensions, has reportedly begun hiring Shopify developers for the first time in company history.
• SkyVerge (now part of GoDaddy): Already partially insulated by GoDaddy’s managed WooCommerce hosting business, but internal sources say GoDaddy is watching the situation closely before committing to further WooCommerce infrastructure investment.
• Barn2 Plugins: Founder Katie Keith has reportedly briefed her team on a platform diversification plan, though no public statement has been made.
• WooFunnels / FunnelKit: The Bangalore-based team, which built its entire business on WooCommerce checkout optimization, is said to be evaluating whether its cart and checkout technology could be ported to a headless commerce layer less dependent on WooCommerce core.

The common thread: everyone is hedging, nobody is panicking publicly, and nobody wants to be the first to say WooCommerce is in trouble.

What Does This Mean for Merchants Currently on WooCommerce?

For the estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million merchants running active WooCommerce stores with meaningful GMV — the $250K–$5M annual revenue tier that forms the platform’s operational backbone — the near-term risk is probably overstated. A PE acquisition wouldn’t immediately disrupt plugin availability or hosting arrangements. But the medium-term calculus is worth examining carefully.

Agency operators who work with WooCommerce merchants are already fielding migration inquiries. “We’ve had six inbound calls in the past three weeks from WooCommerce merchants asking whether now is the time to move to Shopify Plus,” said the founder of a Midwest-based e-commerce development agency that manages roughly $90M in combined client GMV. “We’re not telling people to panic. But we’re also not telling them to ignore it.”

“The switching cost question is always: what do you lose versus what do you gain? For a merchant doing $2M on WooCommerce with 40 custom plugins, migration is a six-figure project. But if your plugin vendor is about to get acquired by a PE firm that doubles their prices, the math changes.” — Agency founder, identity withheld

Shopify is watching this closely. Sources close to Shopify’s partner development team say the company has quietly expanded its migration support resources and is offering enhanced onboarding incentives to agencies facilitating WooCommerce-to-Shopify Plus migrations — reportedly including extended revenue share arrangements and co-marketing support.

Is WooCommerce’s Open-Source Model Ultimately Its Achilles Heel?

This question has circulated in commerce infrastructure conversations for years, but the alleged Automattic discussions bring it into sharp relief. Unlike SaaS platforms that capture revenue through subscriptions and transaction fees by design, WooCommerce’s monetization has always depended on an ecosystem of third parties — hosting providers, plugin developers, and agencies — rather than direct platform revenue.

That’s a structurally difficult business to optimize for a PE buyer who needs to demonstrate a clear path to EBITDA expansion. The likely playbook, if a sale occurs, would involve aggressive moves into managed hosting (competing directly with Nexcess, Kinsta, and Pressable, which is already Automattic-owned), mandatory marketplace fees for premium plugin listings, and possibly a WooCommerce SaaS tier that packages core functionality with a monthly subscription — effectively creating a Shopify competitor from WooCommerce’s bones.

Whether that vision survives contact with WooCommerce’s fiercely independent developer community is another question entirely. The WordPress-WP Engine dispute showed that Mullenweg is willing to weaponize platform governance when he believes the ecosystem is being exploited. A new owner without that ideological standing would face a very different reception.

When Might We Get Confirmation — or a Denial?

Sources suggest that if conversations are genuinely progressing, an announcement or a credible denial could surface before the end of Q3 2026. WordCamp US, scheduled for August in Portland, would be the obvious venue for Mullenweg to address the speculation directly — or conspicuously avoid doing so.

In the meantime, the plugin ecosystem is voting with its roadmaps. Platform diversification among WooCommerce’s top developers is accelerating regardless of whether a sale materializes. The rumor alone may have already done lasting damage to developer confidence in WooCommerce as a primary platform bet.

Ecommerce Times reached out to Automattic’s communications team for comment on this story. As of publication, no response had been received. We will update this article if Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, or Paul Maiorana issue a statement.