CEO Pay Proposal and Layoffs Spark Controversy at monday.com

monday.com has asked shareholders to approve a more-than-double increase in the annual compensation of co-CEOs Roy Mann and Eran Zinman, raising the package to $14 million. The proposal follows a recent announcement that the company will cut 620 jobs, including 350 positions in Israel. Avi Eyal, co-founder of Entrée Capital and a director on monday.com’s board, declined to comment on the compensation vote because of legal restrictions, but defended the moves as necessary responses to a changing market.

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Eyal argued that delaying cuts would have ignored “the new reality” of AI-driven competition. He cited the example of Airtable, which raised funds at an $11 billion valuation before being sold for $1.3 billion after failing to adapt to AI, to illustrate the risk of inaction. According to Eyal, monday.com’s shift toward AI-enabled products and a rebuilt platform positions it to compete, even though the layoffs are unpopular. He also noted that the company’s revenue exceeds $1 billion and that demand is shifting toward “forward-deployed engineers” who help customers adopt AI technologies.

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Eyal linked the broader high-tech slowdown to two factors: large firms absorbing talent and political uncertainty in Israel. He suggested that fewer new startups are emerging because entrepreneurs are waiting for a more stable environment. Eyal warned that Israel faces “quiet sanctions” and “explicit sanctions,” projecting a decade-long period of heightened hostility that could affect the ecosystem.

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Since the start of the year, monday.com’s share price has dropped about 40 percent, reflecting investor skepticism about the company’s ability to overcome AI-related threats. Eyal expressed confidence in the firm’s future, describing its recent reinvention as a positive but noting that the market remains “confused.”

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While Eyal remains optimistic about long-term prospects, he described his stance as “realist” given the challenges facing both Israeli high-tech and the broader geopolitical environment. He highlighted a growing trend of Israeli companies establishing parent entities in the United States as a “Plan B” for stability, and he indicated a shift in his own investment focus toward defense-related technologies.

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