The online store eBay has said it will be letting go of 1,000 full-time workers or about 9% of its total staff. The data was made public in a recent government statement.
The initiative is part of the company’s plan to be “more nimble” in a “challenging” business climate, according to CEO Jamie Iannone. It will include plans to hire fewer contract workers and find others to work in the next few months.
Read also: Zambia tech minister announces readiness to be Africa’s next major tech hub
“We’re making progress on our strategy, but our overall costs and headcount have grown faster than our business.” The CEO said, “To fix this, we’re making changes to our organisation that will align and combine some teams to improve the experience from start to finish and better meet the needs of our customers worldwide.”
In an official statement, eBay asked US workers to work from home today, starting January 24, “to give these conversations space and privacy.” In addition, it says that workers will be told over Zoom if their boss fires them.
An ongoing battle
E-commerce pioneer eBay, founded in 1995, has endured decades of development and intense competition. It employs roughly 12,000 people and is worth $21 billion.
The move is eBay’s second layoff in a year. In February 2023, the corporation announced a 500-person, 4% staff reduction. After the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom, consumer spending slowed, the business said.
For months, eBay has been losing market share to Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. and selling off parts of the corporation. Since it relies on sales commissions, eBay has been mostly unaffected by the advertising downturn, but a sales slowdown has hurt its bottom line.
With 132 million active buyers on Sept. 30, the firm fell 3% from a year earlier. The New York closing price was $41.41. The shares rose 4% in extended trading. In the past year, the stock fell 13%.
eBay has been criticised for poor operations. As previously reported, eBay paid $3 million to settle a criminal investigation into a cyberstalking and extortion scheme by former workers. According to US Federal officials, a Massachusetts couple who produced an eBay seller and executive newsletter received live spiders and a gory pig face mask.
According to prosecutors, eBay staff assaulted the couple on bogus social media profiles and then informed them that eBay was investigating.
Topping the total is the layoff at eBay
Layoffs. Fyi analyses tech job cutbacks and eBay joins more than 60 other major companies that let off over 11,000 workers in 2024.
Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, are two examples. This month, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, told workers that they should expect more layoffs in the coming months as the tech giant shifts its focus to AI “and beyond.”
About 10% of the contract workers at language learning site Duolingo were let go as the company moved to rely more on AI. Amazon also cut many jobs, including some at Twitch, a site for streaming.