Photo: Joi / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Matt Mullenweg earns my admiration in a way few tech founders do, because his biggest gift was given away. Co-creating WordPress, the open-source software that now runs an enormous share of the web, and then building Automattic around it, he chose to widen the infrastructure rather than wall it off. I like that he is also a musician and blogger; that range reads to me as genuine curiosity rather than a resume. The Heinz Award fits a builder who cares about the commons. He works at the foundation level, the part nobody sees, and quietly keeps a large slice of the internet standing.
Overview
Matthew Charles Mullenweg (born January 11, 1984) is an American web developer and entrepreneur. He is known as a co-founder of the free and open-source web publishing software WordPress, and the founder of Automattic.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Matt Mullenweg
- Name (Japanese)
- マット・マレンウェッグ
- Reading
- まっと・まれんうぇっぐ
- Born
- January 11, 1984 (age 42)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Rat
- Origin
- Houston, Texas, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- entrepreneur / programmer / computer scientist / musician / blogger
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
- University
- University of Houston
Awards & achievements
- 2016 Heinz Award
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Entrepreneur — see all → · Programmer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.