Israeli fintech company Pagaya Technologies (Nasdaq: PGY) is laying off over 100 employees in Israel and the US. At the end of 2023, the company had 712 employees including 433 in Israel, so that the layoffs represent over 14% of the company's workforce. Pagaya has developed a technological platform for financial institutions that allows them to more precisely manage credit allocation procedures. The company was founded by CEO Gal Krubiner, Yahav Yulzari, and Avital Pardo and is traded on Nasdaq with a market cap of $788 million.
The current move is part of an organizational change in which the company will put more emphasis on sales and growth, and the cost savings resulting from the layoffs could lead to the company revising its profit forecast based on EBITDA.
Pagaya Israel general manager Yariv Hasar is expected to leave in the coming months and at this stage no replacement has been appointed.
Pagaya already implemented a round of layoffs 18 months ago when it saved $30 million annually by axing 20% of its workforce at the start of 2023.
Six months ago, Pagaya announced a number of steps it had taken in an attempt to make its shares more attractive to US institutional investors.. Among other things, it carried out a capital consolidation - every 12 shares was consolidated into one share, and it began reporting on Wall Street as a US and not a foreign (Israeli) company, thereby providing investors with greater transparency. Pagaya also officially moved its headquarters from Tel Aviv to New York, where Krubiner had anyway been based.
In June 2022 completed a SPAC merger and began trading on Wall Street at a company valuation of $8.5 billion. Shortly afterwards the company market cap jumped to almost $20 billion in what was believed to be a short squeeze, before falling heavily. Over the past year the company's share price has fallen 25% (adjusted for the capital consolidation).
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 5, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.