In reply to PwwwPwww.

It's a combination of a few things. By increasing the usage and adoption of the WordPress platform through Jetpack, we benefit -- rising tide and all that -- more potential subscribers for Akismet, VaultPress, premium themes, etc.

But more importantly, the parity to a WordPress.com experience we aim to provide for self-hosted sites makes it simpler for users to migrate their sites either to or from WordPress.com, and easier migrations are a gain for the hosted platform. But more than that, it's a desire to grow and improve the platform.

Automattic was founded as a way to provide a way to keep folks fed, clothed, housed, etc -- while contributing to Core. It wasn't founded to pull in tons of money, it was something to be sustainable and drive the platform forward as a whole -- both by providing an easy onramp to the WordPress ecosystem through WordPress.com, as well as funding people to contribute on the open source side.

Whether you believe me, or are too cynical to, that I have no control over -- but it's the truth. We just want to make the web a better place. :)