ARRIS fires BigBand's founders and senior execs

ARRIS: Most of BigBand's 160 employees in Israel will remain in their jobs.

Sources inform "Globes" that less than a month after digital TV management solutions BigBand Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:BBND) was acquired by communications equipment giant ARRIS Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS), the company's founders and 15 employees in total are being fired.

The layoffs are part of ARRIS's consolidation of operations and among those leaving are the company's founders - president and CEO Amir Bassan-Eskenazi, and Ran Oz who resigned as CTO a few months ago. Also being fired are VP R&D Yaki Avimor, departmental managers and rank and file employees.

BigBand was acquired on October 11 for $172 million including the company's cash reserves of $127 million.

However, most of BigBand's 160 employees in Israel will remain in their jobs. ARRIS said, "We see the R&D center in Tel Aviv as a vital focus of the company's business development, and therefore most of the job cuts are functions not related to the development process. We are talking about 10 employees out of 160. After the global streamlining process, the Tel Aviv R&D center will remain a central and important focus for the company that has been acquired."

BigBand's share price fell 0.22% in afternoon trading on Nasdaq today to $2.24, giving a market cap of $158.78 million.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 14, 2011

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011

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