Drama at OpenWeb, as a new CEO is announced – and the founding CEO says he’s staying

OpenWeb, a New York startup whose tools help publishers engage users, has a unique problem. Its co-founding CEO reportedly won’t leave, even though it announced a new CEO.

According to CTech, on Tuesday, OpenWeb’s chairman, Tim Harvey, sent an email to employees, saying he’s becoming CEO and thanking longtime CEO Nadav Shoval for his “incredible passion.” Soon after, Shoval shared his own message to employees, claiming the “board has falsely stated that I am stepping out of my role as CEO . . .that is not true and not my intent.” Shoval further accused the board of breaching his contract.

We’ve reached out to Shoval. In the meantime, Harvey reportedly sent another email to OpenWeb employees, suggesting they disregard Shoval’s note. “Apologies to everyone who received this email. We are progressing with the CEO transition process as planned.” Shoval is also gone from OpenWeb’s “who we are” page.

OpenWeb was raised around $400 million from investors; it was last valued by them at $1.5 billion in 2022.