Having established itself over the past five years in the Dublin RDS, the Web Summit is to move next year to Lisbon at an estimated cost of €100 million to the economy here.
Announcing the news this morning, founder Paddy Cosgrave says: "This is a big move for us, to leave Dublin after five years. Web Summit started its life in a sitting room in Ranelagh. The first event was small, with just 400 attendees. Since then, Web Summit has grown into the most important gathering of startups on the planet.
"This November we’re expecting 30,000 attendees to descend upon Dublin and we estimate that more than 50,000 attendees will come to our events over a 12-month period – more than have come to Web Summit in its history prior to 2015.
"We are proud of the fact that we have become an important pillar of the global startup ecosystem. 90% of our attendees come from abroad. That said, we are an Irish company. Our roots are Irish. Our first attendees were all Irish. It was those first attendees who became our greatest champions, spreading the word of Web Summit far and wide. We couldn’t have gotten here without them.
"So it has not been an easy decision to move Web Summit from its Irish home. We are going because we want to take the next step on our journey to international growth.
"In the last six months we have held gatherings in Las Vegas and Hong Kong. These new brands – Collision in the US (which next year will be in New Orleans) and RISE in Hong Kong – are now firmly established. Next February this stable of events will be joined by SURGE in India.
"We know now what it takes to put on a global technology gathering and we know that if Web Summit is to grow further, we need to find it a new home. Our attendees expect the best.
"Lisbon is a great city with a thriving startup community. What’s more, it has great transport and hotel infrastructure and a state-of-the-art venue with capacity for more than 80,000 attendees. So we leave with some sadness. Our HQ is here in Dublin and will remain here. We employ 130 people here and plan to continue growing fast.
"We will always be grateful for the support and encouragement we received from the Irish startup community and those first Irish attendees who helped turn our tiny idea into something beyond anything we ever imagined.
"Now we will be concentrating on making Web Summit 2015 the best ever. We’ll be opening the doors to over 7,000 Irish students and graduates as well as thousands of speakers, investors, media and startups.
"We like to think that Web Summit is a gathering of the decision makers of today and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. We will continue to try to showcase the future while delivering new ways of bringing people together, wherever it may be in the world. Thank you for your support."
Reaction to the Web Summit news has been massive with Enda Kenny, who attended in 2013, saying that he's "very disappointed".
Determined to make it a political hot potato, Fianna Fail Dublin South Bay representative, Cllr Jim O'Callaghan, states that, "The loss of the internationally renowned Web Summit is hugely embarrassing for Dublin and the entire country. Questions must be asked about whether the Government knew that a re-location was imminent, and if so what did they do to prevent it?"
"Is the Web Summit move a surprise?" asks Irish Times journalist Conor Pope. "Lisbon is cheaper and warmer with a better transport infrastructure than Dublin."
"Note that the Web Summit's Lisbon move is strongly affected by real estate: hotel capacity, venue capacity and high rents all hindering Dublin," proffers Trinity College Dublin Professor of Economics, Ronan Lyons.
Whatever way you look at it, Dublin's loss is very much Lisbon's gain.