PADDY COSGRAVE HAS returned as the CEO of the Web Summit less than six months after he resigned over comments he made about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In a post on X today, Cosgrave said he has taken the time to “reconnect with old Web Summit friends”, adding that he has “listened to what they had to say and what they wanted from Web Summit”.
Last October, Katherine Maher, a previous CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, was appointed to head the Web Summit company in Cosgrave’s place.
She replaced Cosgrave after a tumultuous few weeks in which several high profile multinational companies withdrew from participating in the annual tech conference.
Amazon, Meta, Google, Siemens, Intel, Stripe and others all announced they would not appear at the November 2023 event in Lisbon.
The slew of withdrawals came after Cosgrave made comments about the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A few weeks prior to his resignation, Cosgrave said on X, he was “shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders & governments”, who have supported Israel. “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies.”
He later condemned the attacks by Hamas and expressed his “hope for peaceful reconciliation”.
However, the Israeli ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, described the statement as “outrageous”, and said he had written to the Mayor of Lisbon informing him that Israeli companies will not be attending this year’s Web Summit.
Cosgrave’s resignation was seen as a way to limit the damage to the company’s reputation. As well as the central summit itself, the company hosts a series of events throughout the year and employs over 200 people.
He remained as the majority shareholder in the Web Summit company after stepping down as CEO.
Today I’m returning as CEO of @WebSummit.
— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) April 8, 2024
When I stepped back last year, it was the first time I had taken time off in 15 years. It gave me time to think about Web Summit, its history, why I started it on my own from my bedroom and what I wanted it to be.
I took the time to… pic.twitter.com/cDu33kS1tP
In his post today, Cosgrave said that when he stepped down last year it was the first time he had “taken time off in 15 years”.
“It gave me time to think about Web Summit, its history, why I started it on my own from my bedroom and what I wanted it to be,” Cosgrave said.
He said that “some incredible tech advancements, relationships, partnerships, and companies have grown” from the Web Summit events and that he wants to “continue building on this”.
“If anything I want to supercharge this mission even further to build even stronger communities within Web Summit,” Cosgrave said.
“In a very real sense, as Web Summit becomes bigger, our aim should be to make it smaller for our attendees. More intimate. More convivial. More community focused. We will seed small communities at our events, and then help those communities thrive long after each event,” he added.
“I’m incredibly excited for the future with loads more to share.”
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