This afternoon, Israeli company Lightricks, a provider of video and image editing tools for mobile apps, made the announcement that it was laying off 80 employees, including 70 in Israel. This represents a reduction in personnel of 12%.
According to estimates, the Jerusalem-based company, which charges users of its Facetune selfie editing app subscription fees, is preparing for a recession and is worried that its app is viewed as a luxury good. Lightricks, which employs 680 people across Israel, the US, China, and the UK, promises to work with an employment agency to help the fired employees find new jobs.
Every department of the business is affected by the layoffs, but marketing and operations are the main areas of concentration. In times of economic uncertainty, the business prefers to cut costs while concentrating on initiatives that will advance the platform for content creators.
Shaul Meriodor, the former head of the Ministry of Finance Budget Division, was hired by Lightricks as its CFO as the company has been expanding quickly and has been considered a potential candidate for a Wall Street IPO. The company made a move last year to lessen its reliance on app store sales to the general public and to concentrate more on design tools for editing and processing for content producers and influencers in order to enable them to generate income in the future by connecting to brands and advertisements.
Zeev Farbman, co-founder and CEO of Lightricks, said: “We are currently working to ensure the company’s long-term success while implementing its strategy and maintaining the present level of financial stability in light of the current economic climate and the global economic crisis. We have made the decision to halt projects that do not support our strategy and accelerate other projects, which has forced us to eliminate some positions at the company. We are reducing our marketing and operational costs, but we’ll do it while preserving the conditions of the company’s employees’ employment. We pledge to support the workers who are leaving us and to assist them in finding employment.”
