alt Hacker News> Automattic doesn't own the WordPress trademarks
Actually, they own an exclusive license to the commercial exploitation of the WordPress trademark, including sublicensing rights. Given to them for free by the WordPress Foundation. The licensing rights could mean millions for the foundation, but it's all funneled straight to Automattic.
Yep, truly independent foundation.
The Foundation has three board members, a non-active retired coder, Matt Mullenweg and, perhaps surprising given all the venom that he has spat about the evils of Private Equity leeching from free software and open source, the Managing Partner of a Private Equity firm....