Court rejects Nadav Shoval's petition against OpenWeb ouster

Nadav Shoval credit: Open Web
Nadav Shoval credit: Open Web

Tel Aviv District Court Judge Ariel Zimmerman: The petition complains of an infringement of rights that do not exist.

The Tel Aviv District Court has rejected the petition by Nadav Shoval, founder of OpenWeb, for the cancelation of the decision by the company’s board of directors to dismiss him. Shoval claimed that the directors on his behalf had been removed and replaced with directors on behalf of the controlling shareholders in the company, venture capital funds Insight Partners and Georgian, and that his dismissal was therefore illegal.

Shoval founded OpenWeb, a privately-held unicorn company, tried to prove in the legal proceedings that he brought last month that his dismissal was illegal and that it was liable to damage the company, among other things because he enjoyed the support of its customer, major news sites such as Fox News and Popular Science.

In rejecting Shoval’s petition, Judge Ariel Zimmermann wrote: "The petition was filed improperly, it complains of an infringement of rights that do not exist, and petitions for remedies for which there is no justification. OpenWeb’s board of directors repeatedly decided that Shoval should not continue to serve as CEO. Shoval has no vested right to serve as CEO: he forewent his rights, such as they were, so that investors would inject large sums of money into the company, and, according to the investors, into Shoval’s pocket. If he is not employed by the company, then would appear to have lost his right to appoint directors on his behalf, which in any case would not have helped him.

"In the absence of any right of the petitioner to hold on to the post of CEO, and given the time that passed between the dismissal and the petition, the upset that will be caused to the company, the lack of confidence of the directors in the petitioner, who disparages them severely in his petition, and the choice to conceal a highly important document from the court while petitioning for an ex parte injunction, the petition is to be rejected."

Zimmermann ruled that Shoval will bear legal costs of NIS 50,000.

Nadav Shoval said in a statement: "We are studying the ruling and considering all the legal options available to us. It must be stressed that this is a provisional ruling, and that the statement of claim filed against the directors is still outstanding, and I intend to proceed with it."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 13, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.

Nadav Shoval credit: Open Web
Nadav Shoval credit: Open Web
Infinity Tower Tel Aviv credit: Courtesy Hagag Group French investors buy 2 Tel Aviv apartments for NIS 27.5m

The two apartments are in Hagag Group's Infinity Tower in the Summeil district.

El Al plane credit: Shutterstock El Al receives state approval to distribute dividend

The Israeli airline has now announced that it will be able to distribute up to 30% of net profit in 2025 and up to 40% in 2026-2028.

Relocation credit: Michal Raz-Haimovitz How to turn the tech relocation tide

With thousands of tech employees leaving Israel, the Innovation Authority proposes measures that could reverse the trend.

groundcover founders credit: Yossi Yarom Israeli observability co groundcover raises $35m

groundcover has developed a “Bring Your Own Cloud” (BYOC) observability solution, redefining the architecture of a modern observability platform.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange credit: Shutterstock MagioreStock Foreign investment in TASE hits five-year high

Foreign investors have been flocking to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in recent weeks, the TASE research department tells "Globes."

Elbit Systems tank turret systems credit: Elbit Systems Elbit Systems wins $100m tank turret systems deal

The Israel defense electronics company will supply its advanced UT30 MK2 unmanned turret systems to General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) to be supplied to a NATO European country.

Tomer Weingarten Photo: PR Trump targets SentinelOne exec in act of revenge

The US administration has suspended the security clearance of the company's chef intelligence and public policy officer Chris Krebs and everyone associated with him.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange share prices rising credit: Tali Bogdanovsky TASE opens sharply higher after Trump U-turn on tariffs

The pause is being interpreted as a climb down after US President Donald Trump admitted he had made the move to calm the markets.

Ashot Ashkelon credit: Ministry of Defense Up 250%, Ashot Ashkelon wins another Defense Ministry order

The Israeli defense company's share price has risen 250% in the past three years since FIMI Opportunity Funds acquired control.

Liad Agmon credit: Eyal Izhar Insight Partners Liad Agmon steps down as managing partner

Serial entrepreneur Agmon has served as a partner at Insight Partners Israel alongside Daniel Aronovitz who set up the Israel office.

Shekels credit: Shutterstock Vladerina32 Shekel slide resumes amid escalating tariff war

The Bank of Israel is not expected to intervene in the forex market despite the sharp depreciation of the shekel.

Nir Zuk credit: Inbal Marmari Palo Alto Networks mulls buying AI security co for $700m

Sources inform "Globes" that on Palo Alto's radar is Protect AI.

President Donald Trump hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credit: Reuters Kevin Mohatt Israeli officials confident on US tariff concessions

Senior Israeli figures believe that concessions could be tied to progress on strategic regional political issues that are important to President Trump.

Phoenix Investment House CEO Avner Hadad  credit: Tommy Harpaz "The market has priced in all the bad things"

Phoenix Investment House CEO Avner Hadad says US markets could continue to fall, but that we are close to interesting territory for patient investors.

Tel Aviv credit: Shutterstock Tel Aviv slips in World's Wealthiest Cities ranking

Tel Aviv's position as one of the world's wealthiest cities took a big knock over the past year as it slipped from 42nd to 48th in investment advisors Henley & Co.'s "World's Wealthiest Cities" Top 50 ranking.

Leviathan platform  credit: Albatross C'ttee seen recommending no cut in gas exports

The Dayan committee on the future of the gas sector estimates that Israel's natural gas reserves will run out in 2045.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018