Well, what do you make of it? Hexadite laid off almost all of its US workforce right on the day when Microsoft announced that it was acquiring the cyber security firm, in a deal valued at $10 million. The news comes from sources intimately familiar with the matter.
As per Venturebeat, all of the employees that were affected by these layoffs were abruptly informed of the company’s decision through telephone. They were also offered merely half a month’s severance pay and their shares were not forward vested either.
Most of these employees had joined the company rather recently and indeed, we are hearing reports that a couple had even left lucrative job offers at other firms to come work at Hexadite. As such, this sudden layoff that doesn’t exactly seem related with performance, must have hit them hard.
Hexadite is a Israel based firm that seeks to use AI to help companies protect themselves against cyber attacks. The company was acquired by Microsoft pretty recently in a deal said to be around $100 million. The company has also shifted its headquarters to Boston, as such its decision to cut of its US employees is seriously strange. This also leads one to question if the decision was in any way brought about by Microsoft.
As per Microsoft:
We are working with the Hexadite team to determine the best options. We expect many of the Hexadite team to join Microsoft as part of the Windows and Devices Group. As company policy, we do not disclose personnel matters.
However, merely two US employees had been offered temporary 3-month positions at Microsoft yet.
Hexadite’s other employees on the other hand, which mostly consists of Israel based research and development folks based out of employees, will likely be offered roles at Microsoft.
We will be attempting to uncover more on the topic and will update this story as and when we find out more.
