Key Takeaways
- Seahawk has taken legal action in the Delaware Court of Chancery to protect its confidential information, its contractual rights, and the partners who rely on it.
- Seahawk’s Verified Complaint asserts claims against Defendants CloudLinux, Igor Seletskiy, Peter Bauert, and Matt Russell, including claims for breach of contract and tortious interference with contracts and prospective business relationships.
- The Court granted an order restraining CloudLinux’s competing product, AutopilotWP, and expedited consideration of Seahawk’s motion for preliminary injunction.
- Seahawk alleges AutopilotWP was announced to compete with WP Maintain and WP Care.
- Seahawk’s partners continue without interruption.
- Seahawk will keep this page updated with accurate information as the case proceeds.
CloudLinux first announced its competing product, AutopilotWP, on March 24, 2026, and, according to Seahawk’s Verified Complaint, informed Seahawk on March 25, 2026 that Seahawk’s confidential information had been shared. CloudLinux later announced AutopilotWP on its blog on April 13, 2026, and, on May 1, 2026, published a notice stating that it had “terminated” its business relationship with Seahawk.
Seahawk disputes CloudLinux’s characterization of the parties’ relationship and has initiated proceedings before the Delaware Court of Chancery. We are publishing this statement to provide partners and prospective partners with information regarding the public court proceedings and the allegations asserted in Seahawk’s Verified Complaint. We will let the proceedings speak for themselves.
Timeline of Events
[Upcoming] September 8, 2026: Preliminary injunction hearing
The Court has scheduled a hearing on Seahawk’s request for a preliminary injunction.
June 2, 2026: Scheduling order entered
The Court entered a scheduling order setting an expedited hearing toward the preliminary injunction hearing on Counts I & II of Seahawk’s complaint. The scheduling order is part of the public record in the Delaware Court of Chancery, C.A. No. 2026-0630-PAF.
May 22, 2026: Court grants a restraining order on CloudLinux’s AutopilotWP
At the outset, the Court found Seahawk articulated colorable claims against CloudLinux for breaches of its contracts and established a sufficient threat of imminent irreparable harm from CloudLinux’s impending launch of a competitive product created using Seahawk Confidential Information. The Court granted an order restraining CloudLinux’s AutopilotWP product from trade until Seahawk’s motion for preliminary injunction is decided. The order restraining AutopilotWP is part of the public record in the Delaware Court of Chancery, C.A. No. 2026-0630-PAF.
May 18, 2026: Seahawk files suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery
Seahawk filed its complaint and motion for temporary restraining order against CloudLinux (Seahawk Global, LLC et al. v. Cloud Linux Software, Inc. et al., C.A. No. 2026-0630-PAF, Vice Chancellor Fioravanti). The Verified Complaint alleges that CloudLinux breached its contracts and used Seahawk’s confidential information and contractual advisory and research-and-development access to build and launch a directly competing product, AutopilotWP. The Verified Complaint also alleges tortious interference with contracts and prospective business relationships. These allegations remain to be adjudicated.
The Verified Complaint alleges, among other things, that the following circumstances motivated the alleged conduct:
- an alleged acquisition of CloudLinux,
- minimizing contractual obligations by competing and enabling Seahawk’s competitors,
- poaching Seahawk’s talent and looting its confidential information,
- a private equity self-preferencing revenue inflation scheme using its hosting portfolio companies to maximize supplier-side exit values,
- incentive for Matt Russell to advance his personal investments and employment prospects involving a Seahawk competitor who breached its contracts with Seahawk and misrepresented financials to investors and,
- incentives for Matt Russell and shareholders in CloudLinux to advance their own competing hosting portfolio and unfairly identify acquisition targets through CloudLinux’s site-level and growth rate data across thousands of hosting companies.
These are Seahawk’s allegations and do not reflect an opinion or judgment by the Court. A public version of Seahawk’s Verified Complaint is available and partially redacted to keep certain confidential information private. Statements in this post refer to allegations contained in Seahawk’s Verified Complaint.
May 1, 2026: CloudLinux publishes its termination notice
CloudLinux posted a public notice stating that it had ended its business relationship with Seahawk.
April 13, 2026 to April 15, 2026: CloudLinux announces AutopilotWP and cuts integration access
CloudLinux announced AutopilotWP on April 13, 2026, a product that competes directly with Seahawk’s WordPress maintenance software, WP Maintain, developed in collaboration with CloudLinux under contractual obligations. As alleged in Seahawk’s Verified Complaint, CloudLinux threatened to cut access to WP Maintain’s Imunify Connect and AccelerateWP integrations, threatened to inform WebPros of the termination, and threatened to interfere with Seahawk’s existing and prospective business relationships.
As alleged in Seahawk’s Verified Complaint, when Seahawk raised CloudLinux’s contractual obligations and concerns on April 15, 2026, Mr. Seletskiy responded that CloudLinux could disregard them at will: “I have other ways to go after this opportunity if I decide I still want it.” Dismissing Seahawk’s concerns, he further stated that Seahawk had been “a big part of the strategy,” and that its removal left “a big hole in my strategy that I will now have to find a way to resolve — or change the strategy all together.”
March 30, 2026: CloudLinux pauses partnership and cuts access
As alleged in Seahawk’s Verified Complaint, CloudLinux directed that Seahawk be placed “on pause,” removed Seahawk’s access, removed co-marketing materials, cut shared sales opportunities, and threatened to inform WebPros of a “rift.” Seahawk alleges this pause functioned as an ultimatum relating to governance concerns.
November 11, 2025 to March 27, 2026: The agreements and partnership
CloudLinux and Seahawk entered into an Equity Agreement on November 11, 2025, under which CloudLinux acquired a minority interest in Seahawk Global. Those agreements include the confidentiality and competition obligations at the center of Seahawk’s allegations. The partnership involved extensive co-marketing/sales and joint-operations aligning the companies in front of the entire hosting industry and internally across various initiatives. This was demonstrated in frequent marketing materials (social and web), the WebPros-CloudLinux Web Hosting Industry Trends Report (Page 15), CloudLinux’s CloudFest Booth, podcast and panel appearances on Seahawk’s media properties, and CloudLinux CEO’s CloudFest Keynote (13 min and 15 min).
CloudLinux first announced AutopilotWP on March 24, 2026. Seahawk alleges it was informed that its most sensitive confidential information was shared with conflicted parties, including Matt Russell, on March 25, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Seahawk file suit against CloudLinux? Seahawk filed legal action to protect what it contends are its contractual rights, confidential information, and partner relationships. Seahawk’s Verified Complaint (public redacted version), the order restraining AutopilotWP, and the scheduling order are part of the public record in the Delaware Court of Chancery, C.A. No. 2026-0630-PAF.
I am a Seahawk partner or customer. Does this affect my service? No. Seahawk’s white-label WordPress maintenance product and professional services continue without interruption. Partners previously introduced through CloudLinux remain fully supported by Seahawk directly, with no change to service or continuity.
CloudLinux said it ended the relationship. Is Seahawk still operating? Yes, fully. Seahawk has delivered white-label WordPress services to its global partner network for nearly a decade and continues to do so. The end of CloudLinux’s commercial relationship with Seahawk does not affect Seahawk’s operations.
What is the Seahawk and CloudLinux relationship? CloudLinux is an investor and sitting member in Seahawk Global, LLC as of November 11, 2025. The parties have extensively aligned to the industry over six months of partnership.
Why did CloudLinux invest in Seahawk? As per public statements on WP Legends (33:30), CloudLinux viewed themselves as a cost center for their hosting clients and sought to invest in and later acquire Seahawk to help web hosts build new recurring revenue lines through its WP Maintain, WP Care, and Pro Services.
What is WP Maintain and WP Care? WP Maintain is the WordPress Care software platform for web hosts and agencies built and owned by Seahawk in collaboration with CloudLinux’s Imunify and AccelerateWP Connect APIs. Seahawk’s WP Care is the original white-label WordPress maintenance service that operates using WP Maintain.
Where is the case, and what is next? The case is in the Delaware Court of Chancery before Vice Chancellor Fioravanti. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled.
Will Seahawk comment further? Seahawk will not litigate this matter in the press. We will let the Delaware Court of Chancery proceedings speak for themselves and will update this page as the case develops. Seahawk decided to publish this statement after receiving questions from partners following CloudLinux’s public announcement and based on allegations described in its Verified Complaint concerning interference with its partners and prospective business relationships.
Statement
“Seahawk was founded in 2018 to provide web hosts with WordPress care and professional services,” said Ryan James, CEO & Co-Founder of Seahawk. “We went to the Delaware Court of Chancery to protect Seahawk’s contractual rights, confidential information, WP Maintain software, and WP Care service operations, and we will see this through. Our services to partners and their customers continue without interruption.”
“We are deeply passionate about WordPress and excited about what we are building at Seahawk. We continue to push forward on all fronts and do our bit to help WordPress attract more site owners, and keep existing site owners happy and thriving on WordPress through our services, software, and media brands like WP Legends Podcast,” said Gautam Khorana, COO & Co-Founder of Seahawk.
Seahawk’s Verified Complaint (public redacted version), the order restraining AutopilotWP, and the scheduling order are part of the public record in the Delaware Court of Chancery, C.A. No. 2026-0630-PAF. Copies of the public filings will be made available on this page as appropriate.
For inquiries: ryan@seahawkmedia.com or gautam@seahawkmedia.com
