The wave of layoffs in the Israeli tech sector strikes the website development market once again, and this time it is an initiated shakeup at one of the most familiar players in the industry: Elementor announced this morning (Monday) to its employees a extensive reduction move, under which about 100 employees – representing about 30% of the company's workforce – will be summoned to a pre-layoff hearing.
Elementor, founded in 2016 by Yoni Luksenberg (who serves as CEO) and Ariel Klikstein, is considered a significant force on the web. Its open source website building platform is installed on about 13% of websites in the world and powers over 25 million websites. However, the company – which already in 2022 carried out a restructuring round under which 50 employees were laid off – is now forced to perform a much deeper structural "reset".
"To ensure that we remain independent"
In a letter sent this morning to the employees, the CEO and co-founder, Yoni Luksenberg, explained that the company is forced to change direction in light of the rapid technological changes, led by the artificial intelligence revolution. "In the past decade, we proudly led the web creators' revolution," Luksenberg wrote. "In recent years, we dared to break into new growth directions – but we underestimated the speed of technological disruption and its impact on the old model."
According to him, the current move is intended to shift Elementor to a flatter and more agile operational structure, which will focus on the core product and the user community, while preparing for the next generation of the internet and AI agents. "This is a very painful step," he added, "But the change is essential to ensure that Elementor remains independent and resilient."
A direct continuation of the drama at Wix
The shakeup at Elementor comes only about a month after another Israeli giant company in the website development field, Wix, executed its own dramatic reduction move. As recalled, Wix's CEO and founder, Avishai Abrahami, announced back then the layoff of about 20% of the company's employees with the aim of moving to a "leaner and flatter" structure.
Similarly to Elementor, Wix also attributed the painful cuts to the need to adapt the organization to the artificial intelligence era and to AI-based work, alongside coping with structural pressures such as the strengthening of the shekel against the dollar.