eBay Inc. to layoff 500 employees

E-commerce giant, eBay Inc., has announced a plan to cut 500 jobs globally in the latest round of big tech layoffs.

The decision, according to the company, would affect 4 per cent of its workforce across the world.

The new development comes days after PayPal announced plans to lay off 2,000 of its employees.

In a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing released on Tuesday, eBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Iannone, said the decision becomes thoughtful in the face of the “macroeconomic situation.”

Over the past few months, he said the company has taken a thoughtful look at where they are as a company with considerations of the macroeconomic situation around the world and how to best invest and operate so that it can continue to be successful.

“To create long-term, sustainable growth for eBay, we need to evolve our organization as we take the next step in our strategy focused on driving growth, building a trusted marketplace, empowering enthusiasts and seeding new technologies for the future.

“As a result of these considerations and our future-forward plans, I have some hard news to share. Over the next 24 hours, we’ll be letting approximately 500 employees globally know that their jobs will be eliminated.

“This number represents about 4 per cent of our total employee base. In some locations, the notifications are proposals subject to consultation as required by applicable law,” Mr Iannone said.

The eBay boss noted that the actions are designed to strengthen the company’s ability to deliver better end-to-end experiences for its customers and to support more innovation and scale across its platforms.

“They also help us make sure we’re concentrating on where we can make the biggest impact, including expanding focus categories, creating trusted experiences and investing in new technologies.

“Importantly, this shift gives us additional space to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas, new technologies, customer innovations and key markets and to continue to adapt and flex with the changing macro, e-commerce and technology landscape. We’re also simplifying our structure to make decisions more effectively and with more speed.

“On a more personal note, I want to acknowledge that while these actions will move our business forward, they also affect our colleagues. For those directly impacted by these changes, I know this news is particularly difficult,” he said.

eBay is the latest technology company to lay off its employees in a new wave of massive layoffs in the tech industry in which employees of Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, IT group Salesforce, Microsoft, Google and PayPal have been affected.

Layoffs

In 2022, Amazon laid off about 3 per cent of its corporate employees and less than one per cent of its global workforce.

In November 2022, Twitter Inc laid off half its workforce as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, also announced it would lay off more than 11,000 of its employees, reducing the company’s workforce by about 13 per cent.

READ ALSO: Google to layoff 12,000 employees

Also, Microsoft announced plans to lay off approximately 11,000 of its employees, reducing the company’s workforce by roughly 5 per cent.

In January, Salesforce announced it was laying off around 10 per cent of its employees just as Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced plans to lay off 6 per cent of its workforce across the world.