eBay plans to cut 1,000 jobs, reduce contractors to sharpen focus

By Spencer Soper

EBay Inc. 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 e-commerce company said it needs to be “more nimble” in the face of a “challenging” economic environment.

“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 Tuesday in a statement. “To address this, we’re implementing organizational 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.”

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-fueled e-commerce boom.

EBay joins more than 60 other tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., 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.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. and has been gradually selling pieces of the company. Chief Executive Officer 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 Sept. 30, down 3 per cent from a year earlier.

The shares gained about 4 per cent in extended trading after closing at $41.41 in New York. The stock has declined 13 per cent in the past 12 months.