Pagaya confirms layoff of 20% of workforce, 140 employees
Pagaya confirms layoff of 20% of workforce, 140 employees
The fintech company, which became Israel’s highest-valued company for a short time last year, expects to save $30 million a year from the cutbacks
Pagaya is laying off 140 employees, accounting for 20% of the company’s workforce. Around 110 of the employees leaving the company are based in Israel, with the rest in the U.S. Calcalist first revealed the plan to layoff employees last week. The company said the job cuts will bring about $30 million in savings annually.
“Even though this is a difficult decision, we believe these changes will allow us to remain nimble and growth-focused,” said Pagaya CEO and co-founder Gal Krubiner. “I would like to express my sincere thanks to the employees affected by this. We wouldn’t be where we are today without their dedication and hard work to promote our mission.”
Pagaya went public on Nasdaq at an $8.5 billion valuation via a SPAC merger last June, but its shares quickly plummeted and the company found itself trading at a valuation of around $2 billion. However, beginning on July 20, when it became apparent that there are fewer than one million Pagaya shares publicly available, the company began suffering from what is known as the “GameStop Syndrome”, with a herd of speculators identifying the opportunity to dramatically affect the stock price due to its low liquidity.
The company peaked at a valuation of around $20 billion, becoming Israel’s highest-valued company for a short time, only to suffer a painful fall back down to Earth. Pagaya lost over 95% of its value since peaking at the beginning of August, and currently has a market cap of around $640 million.
