CEO of Web Summit Paddy Cosgrave steps away from the company

Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave

The controversial CEO of Web Summit Paddy Cosgrave has resigned from his role with the largest tech conference in Europe after a number of headliners dropped out of the event.

Meta and Amazon joined other tech heavyweights in pulling out of the event after Mr Cosgrave made comments about the Israel-Hamas war on X. 

“I am resigning as CEO of Web Summit with immediate effect. Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend. I sincerely apologise again for any hurt I have caused," said Mr Cosgrave.

His decision to part from the company comes after he spoke to his Web Summit team over the weekend to reassure them they had enough "financial reserves" for the event to go ahead and that the company had survived other crises before including covid.

Web Summit will go ahead as planned next month and the organisation is currently searching for a new CEO, according to a spokesperson. 

The future Web Summit is still remains uncertain as Intel, Siemens and Stripe are among others that have confirmed they will not be going to the event next month as well as Gillian Anderson, known for her role as detective Dana Scully in the X Files, who has decided not to attend the Lisbon-based event as a speaker.

“We will no longer have a presence at Web Summit” said a Google spokesperson.

It remains unclear if some of these firms will reverse the decision not attend with Mr Cosgrave no longer at the helm. However, he does still own the vast majority of the company. 

Mr Cosgrave released an apology on the company’s website earlier this week for comments he posted on social media site X about the Israel-Hamas war after some immediate backlash from some in the industry.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Cosgrave said he was "shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders & governments, with the exception in particular of Ireland’s government, who for once are doing the right thing".

Mr Cosgrave then wrote "to anyone who was hurt by my words, I apologise deeply."

"What is needed at this time is compassion, and I did not convey that,” said the event organiser.

Mr Cosgrave referenced Web Summit’s “long history of partnership with Israel and its tech firms” in his apology and said he is “deeply regretful that those friends were hurt by any of what I said.” 

However, more and more tech giants pulled out of the event after the apology was released. 

Mr Cosgrave made the decision to resign "on his own", according to the source. 

The events over the past week also highlighted the reliance Web Summit has on US tech multinationals, making Mr Cosgrave's remarks problematic for some of them after US president Joe Biden has shown support for Israel during the war. 

This is not the first time Mr Cosgrave has received backlash for comments he has made on social media. During the pandemic, Mr Cosgrave was among those who had spread misinformation about the deaths of healthcare workers on the site formerly known as Twitter.

He subsequently apologised to the INMO and HSE after tweeting that four nurses died from the virus.