The renewable energy company SolarEdge announced today (Monday) two new deals in the American market with companies involved in installing and financing residential solar systems. At the same time, the company disclosed another wave of layoffs, cutting 400 employees, about half of them in Israel. This will leave the company with approximately 3,000 employees. Following these moves, the company's stock soared by about 11% in pre-market trading on Wall Street.
This is the third wave of layoffs for what was once one of Israel's flagship high-tech successes globally. The company had already parted ways with 1,800 employees across three rounds of layoffs in 2024. While the previous three rounds occurred under former CEO Tzvi Lando, the current moves have been executed by the new CEO, Shuki Nir, who assumed his role in December.
In a letter to employees, Shuki Nir wrote: "The cuts will affect all departments in the company, both within our headquarters and in regional teams. They will impact individuals who have made significant contributions to SolarEdge over the years and brought expertise and depth to their fields. We understand the weight and consequences of these measures on the affected employees and their families. We carefully consider each case and are committed to handling every situation with fairness and respect."
SolarEdge Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli high-tech company specializing in the development and production of systems for optimizing the output of photovoltaic solar energy installations and systems for monitoring and controlling performance. SolarEdge, founded as a start-up in 2006, is now a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ. Once considered one of the major success stories of Israeli high-tech, having transitioned from a start-up to a publicly traded company valued at over $18 billion, the company experienced a significant drop in market value between 2023 and 2024, declining by 97% to $874 million as of November 2024.