One signal

Automattic has had the sort of fortnight that keeps a company secretary awake. On 9 September, its board voted to put chief executive Matt Mullenweg on paid leave, a decision the board still has not explained publicly. Mark Davies stepped in as interim chief executive, though the arrangement proved brief.

Why it matters

The detail governance watchers will savour comes from documents TechCrunch reviewed: Davies and the company's chief legal officer, Andy Missan, signed each other's severance packages during that window, worth $8.15m in total. Two executives minding the shop mid-crisis, drafting each other's exit terms, is the sort of paperwork boards usually insist on handling themselves. What the packages contain beyond the headline figure, and why the board acted at all, remain unanswered. For the company that stewards the publishing engine, the silence is its own development.

Discuss: When an interim chief executive and the chief legal officer sign each other's severance during a board crisis, is that sensible contingency planning, or something that should have needed the full board's signature first?

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