Business

Ebay to cut 1,000 jobs, reduce contractors to sharpen focus

Auction site is latest tech firm to slash headcount this year

Ebay employs about 900 people in Ireland. Photograph: Alan Betson

Wed Jan 24 2024 - 07:34

Ebay will cut about 1,000 jobs, or 9 per cent of its full-time employees, and reduce work for its outside contractors, saying its staffing and expenses have outpaced growth.

The ecommerce company said it needs to be “more nimble” in the face of a “challenging” economic environment.

The firm employs about 900 people in Ireland.

“While we are making progress against our strategy, our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business,” the San Jose, California-based company said in a statement. “To address this, we’re implementing organisational changes that align and consolidate certain teams to improve the end-to-end experience, and better meet the needs of our customers around the world.”

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The announcement marks the second round of job reductions at Ebay in a year. The online marketplace in February 2023 said it would cut about 500 employees, or about 4 per cent of its workforce, citing a slowdown in consumer spending following the pandemic-fuelled ecommerce boom.

Ebay joins more than 60 other tech companies, including Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, that have let almost 11,000 employees go so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks tech industry job cuts.

For years, Ebay has been losing market share to bigger rivals such as Amazon and Walmart and has been gradually selling pieces of the company. chief executive Jamie Iannone is trying to find niches for the site, such as luxury watches and collectibles, as well as highlighting refurbished items to appeal to cost-conscious shoppers. The company had 132 million active buyers as of September 30th, down 3 per cent from a year earlier. – Bloomberg

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