Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of technology conference WebSummit, will return to his role as CEO after stepping down in October over controversial comments he made on social media last year about the Israel/Gaza war. . Rumors of his return began to surface over the weekend.Mr Cosgrave confirmed the move. Post on X today.
Notably, Cosgrave made no mention in his announcement of the political comments he made that led to his resignation seven months ago, including a social media post he wrote at the time. have also been deleted). Instead, Cosgrave is trying to ease tensions with a plan to shift focus to smaller groups.
“As Web Summit grows, our goal must be to scale back for attendees. More intimate. More convivial. More community-focused.” is writing.
In doing so, he echoes Mark Zuckerberg's shift to “communities” at Facebook in the wake of the social network's massive scandals (Cambridge Analytica, election manipulation, Congressional hearings, etc.) after the 2016 election. It seems that you are referring to what you did.
Of course, smaller groups, whether social networks or events, provide larger organizations with a means to cater to different agendas and opinions. Even better, as with Facebook, the focus on community is meant to be an antidote to Web Summit's larger business goal of scale, and in Web Summit's case, the focus on events. The aim is to grow the conference empire by collecting participation fees from as many people and companies as possible.
Web Summit runs a number of global technology conferences, the most famous and largest of which is held in Lisbon, attracting more than 70,000 attendees in recent years.
The flagship event hit a tumultuous period last year when major technology sponsors withdrew from the event following criticism from Cosgrave's comments.
The controversy stems from Cosgrave's posting of data on the human toll of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from 2008 to 2023 on October 7, the day Hamas massacred Israeli citizens. (and casualties) was omitted. weekend.
Even in the face of outcry, Cosgrave continued to double down in subsequent posts.
Mr Cosgrave also expressed support for the Irish government's criticism of Israel's implicit plans to cut off water and electricity to Gaza as part of its war plan.
Cosgrave's tweet
This was the final test for many of the Web Summit speakers, with the loudest criticism coming from Israeli-based VCs and founders, followed by US-based technology founders and investors. supported them.
After that, large sponsors such as Microsoft and Google withdrew from the conference.
Under pressure, Mr Cosgrave apologized for the offense caused by the post and resigned as CEO. (Israel then actually cut off water and electricity to Gaza.)
In the lead-up to the Lisbon event, Web Summit quickly appointed Wikimedia CEO Katherine Maher to replace Cosgrave as CEO, even though Cosgrave retained 80% ownership of the business.
It was a very short tenure. Mr. Maher left Web Summit a few months later to take his CEO job at NPR, leaving Cosgrave's company at the helm again, but also paving the way for Cosgrave's return.