Business Roundup Week Ending October 27

Automattic Bets Big on the Future of Messaging

Automattic has aquired Texts, a universal messaging app, for $50M.
Texts unifies communication across WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, iMessage, Signal, and includes interesting AI integrations.
Mullenweg: “Self-publishing, commerce, and messaging covers a good chunk of all human activity, and they’re also three areas where I think an open-source solution is necessary for the long term.”
Texts currently has a waitlist for free access, or skip the wait with a paid subscription ($15/mo or $150/yr)/
Could a universal messaging tool like Texts streamline your communication?
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/24/23928685/automattic-texts-acquisition-universal-messaging
https://wordpress.com/blog/2023/10/24/texts-joins-automattic/

An excellent video interview from Jamie Marsland with Tom Willmott and Adrian McShane from HumanMade about the rebuild of TechCrunch.com.
$300,000 for design work for visual appeal and performance.
$200,000 for infrastructure for traffic capacity and speed.
$500,000 for development and content migration.
Hear the story of how project goals evolved during through the 6+ month process, increasing scope and budget.
https://www.pootlepress.com/2023/10/how-techcrunch-spent-1-million-rebuilding-their-website/

To support the expansion of in-person events, the WordPress Community Team has increased fees for the 2024 Global Community Sponsorship Program.
Gold sponsorship levels rose from $130k to $145k, Silver $95k to $115k, Bronze $80k to $90k.
So far in 2023, in-person events have rebounded: 270 dormant meetups reactivated, 500k+ active participants in events, 60+ WordCamps this year (up from 20 in 2022).
Have you reconnected to the in-person WordPress community? What are you waiting on?
https://wptavern.com/wordpress-global-sponsorship-program-raises-costs-for-2024-to-support-expanding-in-person-events