Paddy Cosgrave back as Web Summit CEO, no comment on Israel ‘war crimes’ remarks
Paddy Cosgrave has returned to his job as CEO of Europe’s leading technology conference, WebSummit, less than six months after he caused outrage and resigned after accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Cosgrave, an Irish entrepreneur and co-founder of Web Summit, resigned from his top position at the company last fall after tweeting on October 13th: teeth. “
At the time, Israel was launching a retaliatory air campaign against Hamas terrorists who had attacked the country. The attack killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and took hundreds more hostage.
In his Monday post on X, Cosgrave did not address the controversial circumstances surrounding his departure, instead writing that it was his “first time off in 15 years”.
Paddy Cosgrave did not address his past comments in his announcement of his return. Web Summit Sports Files (via Getty Images)
“I took the time to reconnect with some of my old friends from Web Summit to hear their thoughts and what they wanted from Web Summit,” Cosgrove wrote. “Incredible technology advances, relationships, partnerships and companies have grown from our events, and I look forward to building on this.”
Web Summit, one of the world’s most popular and attended technology conferences, attracting more than 70,000 attendees in 2022, retweeted Cosgrave’s post on his X account .
A spokesperson did not comment when asked whether WebSummit addressed Cosgrave’s past comments about Israel as part of the negotiations that led to his reinstatement.
Cosgrave posted a lengthy comeback announcement on X.
Following Cosgrave’s comments last year, Amazon, Google, Meta and dozens of other technology companies withdrew from the 2023 edition of the Web Summit in Portugal.
The other co-founders had asked Cosgrave to relinquish his stake in the conference’s parent company, but that never happened.
“Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction to the event and to our teams, sponsors, startups and participants,” Cosgrave said in his resignation announcement last October. Stated. “Once again, I sincerely apologize for any hurt I may have caused.”
Web Summit is the world’s largest technology conference. SOPA Image/LightRocket (via Getty Images)
A spokesperson did not address the controversy surrounding Cosgrave’s comments, instead pointing to a blog post detailing WebSummit’s future plans.
“Our new North Star creates meaningful community and connections for participants.” The blog post read: “Over the last year, we’ve been testing small prototype meetups with participants from similar industries, such as product engineers and marketing leads. feedback was obtained.”
Cosgrave was temporarily replaced by former Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher, but Maher herself left the job within months to become NPR’s boss.
Maher also came under fire last January when he deleted hyper-partisan, left-leaning posts from his social media accounts, including a 2018 tweet in which he declared “Donald Trump is a racist.” Encountered.
Paddy Cosgrave back as Web Summit CEO, no comment on Israel ‘war crimes’ remarks
Paddy Cosgrave has returned to his job as CEO of Europe’s leading technology conference, WebSummit, less than six months after he caused outrage and resigned after accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Cosgrave, an Irish entrepreneur and co-founder of Web Summit, resigned from his top position at the company last fall after tweeting on October 13th: teeth. “
At the time, Israel was launching a retaliatory air campaign against Hamas terrorists who had attacked the country. The attack killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and took hundreds more hostage.
In his Monday post on X, Cosgrave did not address the controversial circumstances surrounding his departure, instead writing that it was his “first time off in 15 years”.
“I took the time to reconnect with some of my old friends from Web Summit to hear their thoughts and what they wanted from Web Summit,” Cosgrove wrote. “Incredible technology advances, relationships, partnerships and companies have grown from our events, and I look forward to building on this.”
Web Summit, one of the world’s most popular and attended technology conferences, attracting more than 70,000 attendees in 2022, retweeted Cosgrave’s post on his X account .
A spokesperson did not comment when asked whether WebSummit addressed Cosgrave’s past comments about Israel as part of the negotiations that led to his reinstatement.
Following Cosgrave’s comments last year, Amazon, Google, Meta and dozens of other technology companies withdrew from the 2023 edition of the Web Summit in Portugal.
The other co-founders had asked Cosgrave to relinquish his stake in the conference’s parent company, but that never happened.
“Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction to the event and to our teams, sponsors, startups and participants,” Cosgrave said in his resignation announcement last October. Stated. “Once again, I sincerely apologize for any hurt I may have caused.”
A spokesperson did not address the controversy surrounding Cosgrave’s comments, instead pointing to a blog post detailing WebSummit’s future plans.
“Our new North Star creates meaningful community and connections for participants.” The blog post read: “Over the last year, we’ve been testing small prototype meetups with participants from similar industries, such as product engineers and marketing leads. feedback was obtained.”
Cosgrave was temporarily replaced by former Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher, but Maher herself left the job within months to become NPR’s boss.
Maher also came under fire last January when he deleted hyper-partisan, left-leaning posts from his social media accounts, including a 2018 tweet in which he declared “Donald Trump is a racist.” Encountered.
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