Paddy Cosgrave has announced his resignation as the chief executive officer of Web Summit with “immediate effect”.
In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, the Wicklow native said: “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 start-ups and the people who attend.”
“I sincerely apologise again for any hurt I have caused,” the statement concluded.
A spokesperson for Web Summit confirmed that a new CEO will be appointed as soon as possible, and that the 2023 conference will go ahead as planned in Lisbon.
In a speech to staff yesterday, Mr Cosgrave said: “I’m sincerely sorry. My actions have placed many of you in a situation or if you have received the most hateful and hurtful messages I think anyone can receive.”
“COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 nearly bankrupted Web Summit. We survived last year, we dealt with over 200 speaker cancellations, some driven by the presence of journalists who many felt were pro-Russian and hostile to Ukraine.”
“To be fair, it’s nothing compared to what has just happened and what lies ahead. You won’t like to hear this, but I think it should be said I think things will get an awful lot worse over the coming 10 days before they start to get better. But they will get better.”
In a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, last week, Mr Cosgrave wrote that 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. War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are”.
The former Web Summit CEO later apologised and revealed he was taking a break from the social media platform for a few days.
