Tech giant becomes latest name removed from sponsor list following Cosgrave’s social media posts
IBM has become the latest tech company to withdraw from the Web Summit in Lisbon, following comments made by former chief executive Paddy Cosgrave on the Israel-Hamas conflict.The quiet exit of the tech giant follows that of Intel, Siemens, Google, Stripe, Amazon Web Services and a number of investors from the event last week.
The company had been listed last week as a sponsor for the event, which is to take place between November 13th and 16th in Lisbon. However, its name was removed from the list as companies withdrew their support following social media posts made by the cofounder of the event.
Mr Cosgrave subsequently apologised and resigned from the company and its board, saying his personal comments had “become a distraction”. “To anyone who was hurt by my words, I apologise deeply,” he said. “What is needed at this time is compassion, and I did not convey that. Web Summit has a long history of partnership with Israel and its tech firms, and I am deeply regretful that those friends were hurt by any of what I said.”Web Summit said it had a “small number” of refund requests from attendees but did not say how many, if any, were related to the controversy generated by Mr Cosgrave’s comments.
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