Start-up P-Cube, which develops command and control systems for communications and Internet services infrastructure suppliers, today announced it was firing 40 out of its 135 employees, or 30% of its workforce. Most of those fired worked at the company's Israeli branch, located in Herzliya but workers at P-Cube's Sunnyvale branch were also let go.
The lay-offs come after a $40 million fund raising round which was completed in May. P-Cube recently opened offices in Asia, to complement its US and European activities.
P-Cube co-founder and chairman Dr. Giora Yaron, Ph.D. said that the decision to cut staff (mostly development staff), was due to a slowdown in the decision-making process of company clients in the telephony, cellular, cable and Internet markets.
"We have cash, but we want to reach an operating break-even point. And if revenues slow down then we have to adapt to the level of activity of the markets in which we operate. I believe the cuts will allow us to break-even, on the basis of very conservative forecasts".
Yaron noted that the company was reducing its development staff in Israel and reducing the number of people in its US marketing department, while at the same time increasing its workforce in the Far East. "The markets in China, Korea and Japan are developing more rapidly today, and that interests us greatly. We already have revenues from this market. I don't know how many people we will hire but the figure is in the double digits".
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 13 October 2002