Over the weekend, Paddy Cosgrave and Web Summit made a surprising announcement that Cosgrave would step down from his position as CEO of the technology conference business. This move was made in an attempt to address the controversies and high-profile conference cancellations that had arisen following Cosgrave’s critical remarks about Israel in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians and Israel’s response.
As of now, it has been confirmed that Cosgrave no longer holds an executive role and has officially resigned from his position on the board. However, he still owns 80% of the Web Summit business. The organization is currently being managed by an executive committee, the details of which are yet to be disclosed. It seems there is no clear successor in a public-facing role, so finding a new CEO before the upcoming event might prove challenging.
Despite these changes, the Web Summit organization is actively preparing for its next event in Lisbon on November 13. Furthermore, they have confirmed that both the flagship Lisbon conference in November and the February 2024 event in Qatar will proceed as planned. Some companies that had initially withdrawn their participation in the Lisbon event have reconsidered, although the specific names have not been disclosed.
The conference organizers are anticipating up to 70,000 participants (compared to 71,000 last year), with additional speakers and media coverage. They expect 2,600 startups and 800 investors to attend.
Cosgrave was in Qatar working on Web Summit’s event in Doha when the conflict between Gaza and Israel escalated, leading to a significant loss of life. His initial critical comments on the situation drew widespread attention and criticism, prompting many tech executives, both from Israel and beyond, to publicly express their intent to withdraw from Web Summit. Nine days after his initial remarks, Cosgrave offered apologies and expressed grief for all the casualties, but the damage was already done, resulting in the controversy going viral and leading to the resignation of Paddy Cosgrave from his role as CEO.
