[miki123211]

WP Engine is also claiming that Mullenweg tried to "extort" them. He allegedly asked WP Engine to pay astronomical amounts of money to WordPress, or he'd go on a smear campaign against them. THe demands were allegedly refused, and it seems that he has indeed started such a campaign.

The claims were made in an official letter to Automattic that included proof in the form of screenshots, and that was written by a legal professional[1]. I personally think it's unlikely that an actual lawyer would risk their reputation and fabricate something like that.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41631912

[ceejayoz]

> I personally think it's unlikely that an actual lawyer would risk their reputation and fabricate something like that.

The various disbarred folks from Trump’s 2020 legal team serve as a pretty effective counter example.

[chuckadams]

Trump is notorious for not paying his lawyers, so as representation goes, he’s left with a bag of mixed nuts to say the least.

[fortyseven]

"How much can I poison the well of public opinion about my high paying client and get away with it."

[Terretta]

> He allegedly asked WP Engine to pay astronomical amounts of money to WordPress...

If we use the word “astronomical” to represent a percentage of profits, what word do we use to describe the profits?

[ceejayoz]

WP Engine asserts they demanded "a significant percentage of its gross revenues", not profits. I'm not sure we know what their margin is.

[JimDabell]

Matt Mullenweg confirmed:

> They had the option to license the WordPress trademark for 8% of their revenue, which could be delivered either as payments, people (Five for the Future .org commitments), or any combination of the above.

— https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1fnz0h6/cease_de...