Paddy Cosgrave has announced his resignation as CEO of Web Summit.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Mr Cosgrave 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 startups and the people who attend.Yesterday, tech giants Google and Meta became the latest companies to withdraw from the Web Summit following remarks from Mr Cosgrave that criticised Western support for Israel after the Hamas attacks.
It follows similar decisions this week by Intel and Siemens not to take part in the biggest technology conference in Europe. During the week, Y Combinator's Garry Tan, Sequoia Capital's Ravi Gupta and other prominent venture capitalists also cancelled plans to attend the event. Several tech executives based in Israel dropped out as well, while it was reported that actress Gillian Anderson would not attend the conference in Lisbon."I understand that what I said, the timing of what I said, and the way it has been presented has caused profound hurt to many," he said on the Web Summit site."To anyone who was hurt by my words, I apologise deeply".This afternoon, a spokesperson for Web Summit said it would appoint a new CEO as soon as possible.
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