IronSource founders leaving Unity amid major cutbacks
IronSource founders leaving Unity amid major cutbacks
The Israeli company merged with Unity at a $4.4 billion valuation in November 2022. Unity announced its plans to lay off approximately 25% of its workforce earlier this week
A day after another round of layoffs at Unity, and 14 months after merging with the videogame software provider, the Israeli founders of ironSource have revealed that they have decided to leave the San Francisco-based company. The list of those leaving includes the large group of founders who have been part of ironSource since its inception, led by CEO Tomer Bar Zeev. Departing alongside him are Arnon Harish, Eyal Milrad, Omer Kaplan, and Tamir Carmi.
This management team guided ironSource through its IPO in 2021 when it merged with a SPAC at a valuation of $11.1 billion. As part of the IPO, ironSource shareholders sold shares worth $1.5 billion. However, the downturn in the market saw ironSource's stock significantly drop below its IPO price, and in November 2022 it merged with U.S. company Unity at a valuation of $4.4 billion. In January 2023, after completing the purchase, Unity initiated a significant downsizing process. On Tuesday, as part of another round of cuts, Unity parted ways with 1,800 employees, including ironSource employees in Israel.
Despite seeming like a good fit, the merger failed to add value to Unity stock, with its shares remaining almost unchanged over the past year, in contrast to the sharp 44% jump registered on Nasdaq.
IronSource specializes in game development and monetization, while Unity is mainly known as a video game development platform.
In response to the departure, the founders of ironSource stated that after 15 years it is time to transfer management to the next generation. “Since the merger with ironSource, Unity has become a profitable company, and the company's headquarters in Israel is the largest of its offices worldwide. It is expected to remain strategic and essential for its continued growth. The process of transferring the baton will take about six months, and Tomer Bar Zeev will continue in his role as a member of Unity's board of directors.”
The retirement of ironSource's founders follows the change in management at Unity itself, with its longtime CEO and leader of the merger, John Riccitiello, leaving last October. He was replaced by a temporary replacement, and a permanent CEO has not yet been appointed to the company.
