Playtech decided to rent two times less space in the new Sarona business tower. Meanwhile, a lot of staff members were fired or left the company in the subsidiary firm Markets.com in Israel. So what is going on at Markets.com?
8 August, AtoZForex – Last week Playtech Cyprus Ltd. Notified Azrieli Group Ltd. that it is reducing the amount of space it was planning to rent in the new business tower on the Sarona site. The decision might be the result of the company’s decision to cut back the business in Israel.
What is going on at Markets.com: details
Playtech is the gaming software giant, which acquired TradeFX Limited. Trade FX Ltd is the ownership company behind the Markets.com brand and the technology under it. Originally, starting from late 2017, Playtech was planning to operate on four and a half floors in the new Sarona tower, which is currently under construction.
Additionally, the company had a choice to expand the existing agreement for one more floor. However, Playtech said in its notice to Azrieli last week that it is retracting its plan to rent some of the floors which were reserved for the company. More specifically, Playtech decided to rent only two floors.
Israel office restructuring
This decision could be explained by the fact that the notification followed after a cut back on Playtech’s business in Israel. The company stated that the decision to shrink the business was a result of reconsideration of firm’s operating costs and lack of profit in local business. As a part of this decision, TradeFX fired 80 staff members, leaving 100 employees. There are rumours that TradeFX is trying to increase its automation which will decrease the dependency on human capital by a certain percentage.
Playtech might also have restructured the way of compensating sales and retention staff. More specifically, it removed compensations and started to pay fixed salaries. This can be a maneuver to avoid potential regulatory problems in future. Playtech is expected to release its First Half 2016 financial report in two weeks, which will reveal the data about actual figures and show what is going on at Markets.com. AtoZForex has reached out to the Markets.com for the comment on the case. The request is still pending.
See also: €138 million Best Gaming Technology acquisition by Playtech
Think we missed something? Let us know in the comment section below!