Tel Aviv court orders OpenWeb to freeze ousting of CEO

Israeli open sharing platform Unicorn Open web CEO and co-founder Nadav Shoval achieved a temporary victory in the Tel Aviv District Economic Court, which ordered his dismissal to be suspended until the court discusses the matter between the two parties at the end of the month. Cheval is in dispute with several investors led by Insight Partners and Georgian.

While Shoval interprets the judge’s ruling as if his dismissal had been put on hold, the company sees it as a technical measure to suspend the completion of his dismissal, which is already underway. OpenWeb fired Shoval on September 9, and on the same day appointed Tim Harvey, the company’s former director, to replace him as CEO.

While Shuval believed that the meeting held last week had once again put his dismissal on the agenda, the process of ratifying the dismissal was carried out despite the allegations he made.

Even if the company does not intend to reinstate Shuval after the judge’s ruling, it cannot complete the processes involved in his removal, such as matters related to his compensation package and options.

OpenWeb requested an extension due to the holidays, and Judge Ariel Zimmerman granted its request, on the condition that “it does not take unilateral and irreversible actions before the hearing, including dismissing Shuval.” Therefore, Cheval’s dismissal was put on hold, at least until his request for an anti-dismissal injunction was heard.

Shuval claims the dismissal is illegal

Cheval served as CEO of OpenWeb from its founding in 2012 until last month when he was replaced by Harvey. He protested the decision in an email to staff. Cheval’s access to the company’s offices and data systems was blocked. Shoval believes that all of these actions are illegal because the board of directors convened illegally to make the decision, he said.

After the court ruling and Shuval’s defense, the company’s board of directors met again and voted to fire Shuval for a second time.

There has been no response from OpenWeb.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on October 13, 2024.

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