Medtronic to lay off 60 employees at Jerusalem R&D center
U.S. medical device giant moves to streamline operations as part of a global realignment.
Medtronic is laying off around 60 employees from its Jerusalem development center, which currently employs about 200 people. The move is part of a global restructuring effort the company began two years ago, involving the reorganization of its research and development operations and the transfer of some activities between countries and sites worldwide.
A department in Jerusalem specializing in ventilator systems is expected to cease operations, and affected employees will be invited to apply for other positions within the company. The department traces its origins to Oridion Medical, a Jerusalem-based firm in respiratory monitoring systems founded in 1987. Oridion developed capnography technology to measure carbon dioxide levels in exhaled air and was widely regarded as a global leader in respiratory monitoring.
In 2012, Oridion was acquired by Covidien for $346 million, and following Covidien’s merger into Medtronic in 2015, the Jerusalem facility became part of Medtronic’s broader Israeli R&D network.
Today, Medtronic is one of the world’s largest medical device manufacturers, operating in about 150 countries. Its products include pacemakers, defibrillators, neurological implants, insulin pumps, and diabetes monitoring systems. In Israel, the company employs roughly 1,200 people across eight sites, including Jerusalem, Yokneam, and Herzliya. Medtronic Israel is led by CEO Arik Corcos.
In May 2024, Medtronic laid off 35 employees in Israel, mostly from Mazor Robotics, the Haifa-based surgical robotics company it acquired in 2018 for $1.6 billion, Medtronic’s largest Israeli acquisition to date.
The company has also been entangled in one of Israel’s largest-ever tax disputes involving a multinational corporation. The Israel Tax Authority is demanding approximately NIS 674 million (around $200 million) in unpaid taxes related to the transfer of intellectual property following Medtronic’s 2009 acquisition of Ventor Technologies. The authority alleges the company moved patents and know-how developed in Israel to its global affiliates without proper disclosure or tax payment.
The Lod District Court previously ruled in favor of the Tax Authority, but Medtronic has appealed to the Supreme Court and requested a stay of collection. The company maintains that the transferred assets were of limited value and that Ventor’s closure was part of a global restructuring plan.
In a statement, Medtronic said: “Medtronic continually evaluates its operations to ensure a competitive business model aimed at long-term growth and supporting the needs of our customers. After careful consideration, the company has proposed to reallocate some of its work from our site in Jerusalem to other Medtronic locations. As a global business, we compete more effectively by centralizing similar processes and functions. This simplifies our business, improves efficiency and ultimately benefits our customers. This ensures that we remain competitive and position Medtronic for long-term growth. Employees whose roles are expected to be impacted have been informed, based on their availability. We are now beginning our local legal process and are committed to supporting affected employees through this process. As always, we will comply with all local and national labor rules and regulations. Employees are invited to apply for any open positions with the company. This organizational restructuring impacts part of the research and development, operations, regulatory and quality functions. All other functions, such as operations, based in Jerusalem, are not affected by these changes.”
