An internal Web Summit communication issued under the instruction of chief executive Paddy Cosgrave suggests he was still in effective control of the company even after his resignation in October 2023 following backlash to his social media posts about Israel and Gaza, the High Court heard on Thursday.
His posts on social media platform X in October 2023 prompted several high-profile sponsors to pull out of the annual technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, leading to Mr Cosgrave’s departure from the company just weeks before that year’s event.
Katherine Maher, who is now chief executive of US broadcaster NPR, performed the role until Mr Cosgrave returned to lead the company in April 2024.
In his opening statements in a High Court civil trial on Thursday, barrister Michael Cush SC, representing Web Summit minority shareholder David Kelly, said his client was accused of a “deliberate cover-up” of an allegation against another minority shareholder and former director Daire Hickey about an alleged incident that took place in 2016.
Mr Hickey vehemently denies the allegation.
A message on the corporate communications platform Slack that was sent to all Web Summit employees – about 300 people, the court heard – on March 6th, 2024, accused Mr Kelly of deciding “to intervene” on behalf of Mr Hickey, “conspiring to intentionally” mishandle the investigation into the complaint.
Mr Cush said his client, who saw the message two days later, had his solicitors contact law firm Clark Hill, who were acting for Mr Cosgrave.
The Web Summit chief executive’s solicitors conceded that the message was “inappropriate” and “ought not to have been sent”.
Mr Cosgrave’s solicitors also said the message was sent by Web Summit’s “chief people officer” Ronan Mooney “under the direct instruction of Paddy”.
This was at a time when Mr Cosgrave had “stepped back from the company” after his Israel posts, Mr Cush said, and was “ostensibly” not supposed to have any role with Web Summit.
Mr Cush told the court that Mr Kelly, who is suing his former friend for shareholder oppression and breaches of a profit-sharing agreement, and Mr Cosgrave met when they were 12 years old as boarders at the elite Glenstal Abbey in Limerick.
They rekindled their friendship some years later and “were close” for a time, with each man attending the other’s wedding.
Mr Cosgrave, who held small events under the Web Summit brand in 2009, invited Mr Kelly, who was then living with him in Dublin, to join the company in 2010.
Mr Cush said Mr Cosgrave had acknowledged Mr Kelly’s contribution to Web Summit’s growth on several occasions, including in an award acceptance speech in 2013, when he credited Mr Kelly with “actually” running the company for the previous three years.
Their relationship soured, however, and there were differences in their personalities, not least that Mr Cosgrave is an “intense man” who appears to “thrive on controversy”, Mr Cush said. By contrast, Mr Kelly “can become stressed by events” and goes out of his way to avoid confrontation.
