Paddy Cosgrave denies former Web Summit directors were co-founders and says they were given the ‘vanity’ titles as a ‘soother’

The Web Summit chief executive is embroiled in a legal dispute over alleged minority shareholder oppression and profit-share agreements

Paddy Cosgrave, the Web Summit chief executive, has filed a High Court affidavit denying a series of allegations made against him by former colleagues. Picture: Getty

Paddy Cosgrave has denied that two former Web Summit directors he is embroiled in a legal battle with are co-founders of the company and claimed that he provided them with the “vanity title” as a “soother”, recently filed legal documents show.

The chief executive of the Irish-based conference and technology company claimed David Kelly and Daire Hickey were given the co-founder title three years after he claims he founded Web Summit and only after they ...