If you go out into the real world, you'll see that most people who are aware of what happened believe that what Matt and Automattic did was underhanded and unethical. Circumstances don't matter, actual facts really don't matter, it's all perception and the perception is that Pearson is wrong and Matt/Automattic are wrong. They could have taken the high road, but they chose not to. On the internet, the rule is "the last one to be wrong is the wrong one". So unless Pearson further bungles things, he wins in the PR department to the average layman. Quite honestly, I'd sell the domain to Pearson for what they paid for it and be done with the whole thing. They look like they "saw the light" and get back positive vibes, Pearson looks like more of an ass, and WP Tavern can get back to reporting on WordPress (or who Matt is dating if they wanna continue down the tabloid route).