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WordPress maker buys SA entity

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 21 May 2015
WooThemes is an open source proponent.
WooThemes is an open source proponent.

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, has bought out WordPress theme and plugin provider WooThemes for an undisclosed amount.

Automattic, which is an open source proponent, has also created several other services, such as Akismet, Jetpack, and VaultPress. WordPress.com serves more than 15.8 billion pages a month.

The deal was announced via a WooThemes blog post, written by its co-founders, Mark Forrester and Magnus Jepson, as well as Matt Mullenweg, Automattic founder. WooThemes says the move "marks the beginning of the next exciting chapter in our journey".

WooThemes adds there will be no change for its customers, who can expect "business as usual". The company, founded in 2008, will continue providing customer support from its global locations, it adds.

The South African start-up notes it powers more than 24% of online stores with its flagship product, WooCommerce. In addition, it has several hundred WooCommerce extensions, a catalogue of themes, and other plug-ins. "We're helping our customers launch their online businesses from every corner of the world."

WooThemes was bootstrapped and employs 55 team members in more than 20 countries. It says the deal is part of its plans to accelerate growth. "We've met some very powerful and influential companies and potential investors, but none more ambitious and aligned with our values than the team at Automattic."

The companies have been in talks since late last year. "Our plan is to leverage our combined wealth of knowledge, skills, vibrant community and joint infrastructure platform to reach new e-commerce heights."

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