In response to Automattic’s announcement, de Valk said he was ready to lead the next release of WordPress.
Karim Marucchi, CEO of web consulting firm Crowd Favorite, echoed the sentiment saying his “team stands ready.”
Together, de Valk and Marucchi spend about 10 hours a week on different aspects of the WordPress open source project.
However, Mullenweg deactivated their WordPress.org accounts in a move he described as giving their independent effort the “push it needs to get off the ground.”
