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

By Spencer Soper | Bloomberg

EBay Inc. will cut about 1,000 jobs, or 9% of its full-time employees, and reduce work for outside contractors, saying 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. The shares gained about 4.4% in early trading in New York. The stock has declined 13% in the past 12 months.

“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 late 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.”

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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% 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 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% from a year earlier.

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