Liquid Web and StellarWP Lay Off 25% of Workforce

StellarWP initiated another another round of layoffs, this time an estimated 36 people were laid off according to The Repository, which is 25% of the StellarWP team. There was another round of cuts by StellarWP in March, and these cuts come as Liquid Web reduces staff company wide.

The layoffs this round include some key members of the StellarWP team, such as Ben Meredith, the former Director of Customer Service and Support for GiveWP, and Taylor Walden who was a Product Owner for LearnDash. Together these two staffers leave behind sixteen years of experience with teams.

Devin Walker, who used to be a part of StellarWP and was a co-founder of GiveWP stated on LinkedIn that the news “saddens me deeply.” He went on further to say “While I understand that business health, growth, and innovation are essential, private equity often takes a hard edge, putting profits over people and disregarding morale. The truth is that happy teams create great products.”

Support from the community to help those impacted find jobs has been overwhelming. Matt Cromwell, Senior Director of Customer Experience at Liquid Web and co-founder of GiveWP has created a list of open jobs.

Additionally, Michelle Frechette, a former StellarWP team member who was laid off, also offered support on the Post Status Slack and has started a list of job openings.

The overall feeling toward StellarWP and Liquid Web within the WordPress community is negative. There is a lot of concern and frustration with how Liquid Web has been handling StellarWP and its brands.

Additional fallout from the layoffs indicate that Benjamin Ritner, founder of Kadence WP will be leaving StellarWP and rumors that Matt Cromwell has given notice to StellarWP.

As WordPress acquisitions and mergers continue to occur, unfortunate news will likely continue as this seems to be a common modus operandi for larger companies to do.