That's not what page 35 says at all. Check out page 36:
> 92. Mullenweg’s premise was false, as WPE’s CEO had never interviewed with or
negotiated a job offer with Automattic. To the contrary, back in 2022 Automattic had asked if she
would be interested in running wordpress.com, but she politely declined.
(edit: I have no idea who is right, but it's just not correct to read page 35 as saying that)
> 92. Mullenweg’s premise was false, as WPE’s CEO had never interviewed with or negotiated a job offer with Automattic. To the contrary, back in 2022 Automattic had asked if she would be interested in running wordpress.com, but she politely declined.
(edit: I have no idea who is right, but it's just not correct to read page 35 as saying that)