Who owns Gravatar?
Gravatar is owned by Automattic (the United States), which has owned the brand since 18 October 2007.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Automattic — about us, Automattic Inc. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Automattic Inc. reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, San Francisco, California
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 2004
- Category
- Internet & digital › Digital services › Website & store builders
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Gravatar
Gravatar gives an email address a profile picture that follows it across any site supporting the service, which is why the same avatar appears in comment sections that have never met each other. Automattic acquired it in 2007. It was written by Automattic's own founder before he joined the company, and the service persists largely because so much blogging and developer software still calls it by default.
Ownership timeline of Gravatar
- 2007 – present Automattic [1] reported
Where Gravatar sits in Automattic
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Automattic ownership tree →
See the full Automattic brand portfolio (4) →
Other brands owned by Automattic
Automattic controls 4 brands on Brandtree, 4 of them in internet & digital.
Also in internet & digital
- Tumblr (2007)
- WooCommerce (2011)
- WordPress.com (2005)
Other brands in website & store builders, and who owns them
The 20 brands in website & store builders on Brandtree belong to 6 owners. The largest is IONOS, with 9; Automattic has 3.
About the owner: Automattic
Automattic is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, founded in 2005. Brandtree records 4 brands under its control.
Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com, founded in 2005 by one of the creators of the WordPress software. It is privately held and fully distributed with no central office, and its relationship with the separate non-profit WordPress Foundation became the subject of open litigation in 2024.
🇺🇸 Gravatar and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Gravatar is not one of them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Gravatar?
The parent company of Gravatar is Automattic, a privately held company headquartered in the United States.
Is Gravatar American?
Yes. Gravatar originated in the United States in 2004 and its owner, Automattic, is also headquartered in the United States.
Since when has Automattic owned Gravatar?
Automattic has owned Gravatar since 18 October 2007.
Is Gravatar still owned by Automattic?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Gravatar is still owned by Automattic. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Automattic — about us — Automattic Inc., Official document; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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