EBay announced Tuesday that it will lay off 1,000 employees, citing slowing growth.
Matt Slocum/AP
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Matt Slocum/AP
EBay announced Tuesday that it will lay off 1,000 employees, citing slowing growth.
Matt Slocum/AP
Online retailer eBay will shed 1,000 jobs, or about 9% of its workforce, as the company faces a business slowdown that extends across the technology industry.
in Blog posteBay CEO Jimmy Iannone wrote that the company's staff size and expenses “outpaced the growth of our business,” which he said led to the termination.
In addition, eBay is terminating its relationship with several third-party contractors.
Both moves are part of an effort to stay more “nimble” in the face of a “difficult” economy, Iannone wrote.
Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the pioneering companies in the Internet, and has managed to withstand decades of changes and fierce competition in the world of e-commerce. Today, the company is worth $21 billion and has approximately 12,000 employees, but its core business has been cut over the years by Amazon and other online marketplaces.
Although it has been largely insulated from the decline in ad spending, since it makes most of its money from sales commissions, a slowdown in sales on the online platform has weighed on eBay's bottom line.
The 1,000 layoffs announced Tuesday follow a previous staff cut in February 2023, when it laid off 500 workers, as the company tried to adapt to declining sales demand after the pandemic boom times.
eBay's employee downturn comes as dozens of other tech companies, including Google, Amazon and most recently TikTok, have laid off thousands en masse, with executives saying they are still shedding workforces swamped by the pandemic.
Just four weeks into 2024, dozens of technology companies have laid off nearly 11,000 workers, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job cuts in the sector.
Iannone, eBay CEO, said employees who lost their jobs will be notified soon through a Zoom meeting. All US employees were asked to work from home on Wednesday, when many layoff notices will be delivered, “to provide some space and privacy for these conversations.”
Earlier this month, eBay agreed to pay a $3 million settlement to resolve a criminal investigation into a cyberstalking and harassment campaign led by former eBay employees, in which live spiders and a bloodstained pig face mask were sent to the home of a Massachusetts couple who posted a message. . A newsletter focused on eBay sellers and executives.
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