Web Summit’s headquarters in Dublin has been put on the market with a guide price of €4.5 million, just days after the technology conference company’s founder and chief executive Paddy Cosgrave settled three bitterly fought High Court actions with his former business partners.
Tramway House in Dartry, Dublin 6, is being sold by public tender, according to an advertisement seen by The Irish Times, which is due to be published in the coming days.
Property agent Lisney is handling the sale of the 0.41-hectare site, which includes a protected structure that once formed part of a tram depot and now houses Web Summit’s offices.
A spokesman for Web Summit, which was informed of the sale a month ago, said its tenancy is unaffected.
“Web Summit is the sitting tenant, so the ultimate ownership of the building has no impact on us: we’re just focused on delivering the world’s best technology events,” he said.
The property comprises 2,316 sq m of office space, according to the advertisement. Lisney is accepting bids for the property until noon on May 22nd unless it is sold before then.
The block was converted for use as offices about 40 years ago by the Roadstone Pension Fund, which put the property on the market in 2014 with a guide price of €3 million. The Irish Times understands Roadstone remains in control of the property and is now looking to offload it.
The sale of the building is not connected to the recent High Court civil trial involving Mr Cosgrave and his former business partners.
After a little less than two weeks, the trial heard last Thursday that a settlement had been reached in the acrimonious dispute between the three principal shareholders in Web Summit, which kicked off in the courts in 2021.
Details of the settlement have not been made public. It was understood throughout the proceedings that minority shareholders David Kelly and Daire Hickey wanted Mr Cosgrave to acquire their respective 12 per cent and 7 per cent shareholdings in the business.
Among the issues which had been due to be thrashed out in the proceedings were questions around the value of the company and their stake in it. However, Mr Cosgrave, who owns 81 per cent of the business, is likely to have agreed to pay out tens of millions of euro for the shares as part of the settlement.
The settlement also recognises that Mr Cosgrave founded the tech conference business in 2009.
