Paddy Cosgrave formally resigns as director of Web Summit parent company

Paddy Cosgrave has formally resigned as a director of Web Summit’s parent company, nearly two weeks after he quit as chief executive amid a wave of withdrawals from this month’s event after his comments on the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr Cosgrave stepped down as a director of Manders Terrace Ltd on November 2nd, according to a company filing. Nathan Hubbard, a former Ticketmaster executive who was a non-executive director of Manders Terrace, has also resigned as a director, a separate filing shows.

There is no indication that Mr Cosgrave’s 81 per cent ownership of the company has changed.

The moves came as Web Summit claimed a number of “partners” who had originally cancelled or were “considering participation” in this year’s event in Lisbon have now confirmed they will be attending.

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“Multiple partners who had cancelled, or were considering their participation, have confirmed their attendance. Full details will be given to Web Summit participants in the run-up to the event,” Web Summit said in a statement.

There was no suggestion that any of the headline sponsors whose decision to withdraw support from the event in the wake of Mr Cosgrave’s comments are among those now intending to participate.

The event, which will kick off in 10 days time, became mired in controversy due to comments made on social media by cofounder, majority shareholder and former chief executive Paddy Cosgrave on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Mr Cosgrave subsequently apologised and resigned from his position after a number of high profile sponsors and speakers pulled out, including Google, Meta, Intel, Siemens, Amazon Web Services and Stripe.

The company this week appointed a new chief executive, with former Wikimedia Foundation chief executive Katherine Maher taking up the role.

“The Ukrainian Tech Ecosystem has also publicly supported the event and will be showcasing at Web Summit in Lisbon. The Portuguese government has reiterated its commitment to the 2023 and future editions of Web Summit,” the statement added.

Government delegations are also expected to attend from countries including Germany, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Ukraine and Italy.

Around 70,000 people are expected to attend Web Summit, which runs from November 13th to 16th.

Web Summit said the number of people registering their details in advance of the event to claim tickets that had been booked was higher than the same period last year.