Tech industry layoffs continue to rage on, this week with eCommerce site eBay announcing it’s to make 1,000 full-time jobs redundant, which equals to around 9% of its workforce.
The job cuts are part of “ensuring eBay’s long-term success” and were announced by the company’s President and CEO Jamie Iannone earlier this week.
In what appears to be relentless downsizing across the industry, this is the latest round of job cuts that have hit tech companies so far this year, following the likes of Amazon, Google, and Duolingo.
eBay Aiming to Cut Costs
According to eBay, mounting expenses and the number of staff it has have outpaced the growth of the business. This, plus the desire to move more quickly and dynamically appear behind the layoffs.
In a letter published on its corporate blog, Iannone stated: “I am sharing news about changes we are implementing to better position eBay for long-term, sustainable growth. The most significant and toughest of these decisions is to reduce our current workforce by approximately 1,000 roles. Additionally, we plan to scale back the number of contracts we have within our alternate workforce over the coming months.”
The job cuts and subsequent organizational changes hope to consolidate certain teams which will in turn create efficiencies within the company.
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Layoffs To Be Done Via Video Call
Employees whose roles have been cut will be notified this week, and in an unusual move Iannone has explicitly stated he wants them to work from home on Wednesday 24 January, 2024 to ensure “space and privacy for these conversations.”
Recently we’ve seen a rise in laid-off employees taking to social media to record their impersonal, virtual dismissals. eBay choosing video calls as a preferred way to break the news could spell a little PR trouble if not executed correctly and with compassion.
Iannone continued: “These changes are difficult, but I’m confident that by working together we will become stronger than ever. In the months ahead, you will see a more focused, agile, and responsive eBay — one that is better positioned to advance our purpose of creating economic opportunity for all.”
How Did eBay Get Here?
Back in November 2023, eBay’s share prices dropped around 4%, justified by a downturn in consumer demand.
Iannone attributed the disappointing quarterly earnings to “inflationary pressures and rising interest rates [that] continue to weigh on consumer confidence and pressured demand for discretionary goods”.
This decrease in demand isn’t the only financial pressure the company has faced recently either. Earlier this month, eBay stated it would pay a $3 million penalty to resolve criminal charges of cyberstalking and harassment waged by a group of former employees.
