Israeli cyberattack company NSO Group is leaving its offices in the Apple building in Herzliya Pituah and has leased larger premises in Glilot, between Tel Aviv and Ramat Hasharon, as it plans to expand.
NSO Group, which has developed cyberattack and spyware programs, has become notorious worldwide over international revelations about its Pegasus spyware program. In 2015, NSO signed a 10 year lease for its offices in the Gav Yam (Bayside) building in Maskit Street in Herzliya Pituah, above the offices of Apple. Now as part of a reorganization and expansion, the company decided to seek new offices and found them in the new offices being developed at Glilot by Big Shopping Centers (TASE: BIG) and Allied Group.
NSO Group will lease 7,500 square meters on the top four floors of the 44-floor office tower being built in Glilot. The contract is for 10 years from the second half of 2025, with an option to extend for a further 10 years. NSO currently has 400 employees in Israel and its new offices are larger than its current premises, thus allowing room for future expansion.
Estimates are that NSO will pay NIS 80-100 per square meter for the office in Glilot before interior design and finishing for an annual rent of NIS 8 million. Finishing will add another 20% to the price. A source familiar with the matter has told "Globes" that this is more or less the same rent that NSO is currently paying in Herzliya Pituah, for a smaller area than in Glilot.
In 2021, NSO became embroiled in the Pegasus affair, when an international media consortium published details about how governments and organizations worldwide were exploiting the spyware's capabilities for alleged illegal practices. Since then the company has tried to change direction and replaced its CEO and founder Shalev Hulio with a new CEO Yaron Shohat. In August 2022, NSO fired 100 employees leaving it with 700 employees worldwide.
Shohat says, "The company underwent a crisis 18 months ago and has undergone a very serious reorganization. We had several buildings, and we were reduced to a few upper floors in the Apple building. The company went through a very significant rehabilitation process, and today it is in a different place from a business point of view. Within this framework, we began to look for an office complex that would better suit the company's contemporary needs: the way we work has changed, the functions have changed, the size of the company has changed and so has the potential for future growth.
"In a company like ours, the employees are the most significant asset, and we wanted to give them a more modern and upgraded environment, without changing the situation for them too much. When we saw and studied the project of Allied and Big, the decision was relatively easy. It is a project that offers a lot of advantages to the company and its employees."
He adds, "Our employees come from Tel Aviv, the Sharon region and further north. For those who come from Tel Aviv access will be significantly improved. They'll save that extra kilometer including the jams at the Hasira Interchange, which will take 30 minutes off their morning commute."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 3, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.