Mullenweg Rejects $200M

Matt Mullenweg shares the story of turning down a $200M acquisition offer for WordPress when he was 24 years old.

"In 2008, about two and a half years into the company, someone tried to buy us for $200 million. We were only 20 people at the time. The investors did something that was pretty forward-looking - they turned that acquisition offer into a funding round valuation instead.

We thought this could be way bigger, so we took more capital into the company to really build things out. I sold some stock myself - that was my first million liquid at age 24. It was a step change - I was able to pay off my credit cards, buy my mom a house, and remove those early economic pressures. This allowed me to focus on just the business and swing for the fences, which is what the investors wanted me to do.

It wasn't an easy decision at all. As a fiduciary, you have a responsibility to shareholders to consider every acquisition. With any acquisition, you have to ask yourself: will the mission we're doing be accelerated by this transaction, or will it be hampered?"