Yahoo Finance Google’s biotech company pulls out of Israel but says Gaza war not the reason
Google’s health and data company, Verily, is closing its operations in Israel three years after opening a research and development center in the country. Verily staff in Israel are expected to leave by the third quarter of 2024. The company cited an effort to refocus its strategy on core products and projects as the reason for the closure.
“As part of our ongoing review of business needs, Verily has made the difficult decision to begin the process to close its R&D center in Israel located in both Haifa and Tel Aviv,” a spokesperson for Verily said. “This decision is in keeping with our strategy as we continue to streamline our overall company operations.”
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“The Israel-Gaza war played no part in our decision,” the spokesperson added.
Verily, which emerged out of Google parent company Alphabet’s “other bets” program in 2015, has become an influential player in health technology and raised at least $3.5bn in total funding as of last year. It has been working toward a plan in recent years to disentangle itself from Alphabet and potentially seek an IPO as an independent company.
The company opened its research and development center in Israel in 2021, announcing that it would partner with hospitals and healthcare organizations in the country. When asked if employees at the center would be losing their jobs, a spokesperson stated that the current team in Israel is “expected to be leaving the company by the end of Q3 2024”.
“The Verily Israel team has driven important innovations and advancements in the past several years, specifically focused on applying artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to biomedical problems,” the spokesperson said. “We plan for this critical work to continue in our US-based sites.”
Verily has been on a cost-cutting plan for over a year that has included rounds of layoffs after it fell short of revenue projections in 2023. Alphabet has made wider cutbacks, culling 12,000 employees in 2023 and another 1,000 in January.
