[3][4][5][6] WP Engine's main function is allowing businesses and organizations to build, host, and manage websites powered by WordPress.

[19] In a 2023 study conducted by StatusGator, WP Engine was named one of the most reliable WordPress hosting providers based on downtime data.

[30] In response, WP Engine issued a cease and desist against what it characterized as defamation and extortion, attributing his attacks to WP Engine's refusal to pay Automattic "a significant percentage of its gross revenues – tens of millions of dollars in fact – on an ongoing basis" for what it claimed were necessary trademark licensing fees (later clarified as 8% of all revenue, payable in gross or in salaries for its own employees working under WordPress.org's direction, combined with a clause that would've prohibited forking[31]) for the "WordPress" name.

[31] As a result of the dispute, WordPress.org blocked WP Engine and affiliates from accessing its servers—which include security updates, the plugin and theme repository, and more—on September 25, 2024.

[35] Following backlash, access to WordPress.org was temporarily restored until October 1 to allow WP Engine to build its own mirror sites two days later,[36][37] which the company did.

[38] On October 7, 2024, to align the company's stance, Mullenweg announced that 159 employees—8.4% of Automattic—had quit in exchange for a severance package of $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever is higher, with the condition that the resigned would not be able to return.

[39] The next week concluded another offer of nine months' salary to attempt to placate those who could not quit for financial reasons,[40] though with only four hours to respond and the added term of being excluded from the WordPress.org community.