[runako]

> I wouldn't be surprised to learn cPanel had as many WordPress using customers as WPEngine - and it's now owned by PE as well.

I would bet that WPE is not nearly the largest WP host by # of sites. Bluehost, for ex, is claiming millions of WP sites.

> WordPress fork developed by a consortium of companies who offer Wp as a Service

Exactly this. And folks working in the broader ecosystem (themes, plugins, retailers of the above, potentially contract WP developers as they also have to use trademarked terms in marketing) also have an incentive to work with such a fork.

MariaDB is a solid example of a community fork taking root when the corporate owner became perceived as being unstable.