eBay to Cut 10% of its Worldwide Workforce
The Online auction website eBay announced today that it is to lay off 1,000 employees, which is 10% of its workforce, as part of a move to streamline the business due to slowing growth in its internet sales.
The Cuts are likely to affect over 1,000 employees and hundreds of temporary workers world wide. There are around 100 UK based eBay employees, an eBay spokesman said;
“some people’s roles are at risk of redundancy”
However they could not confirm how many jobs, even which departments are most at risk.
Only a few months back the company reported its growth of sales since 1998, today’s announcement gave warning that although its third-quarter profits would exceed its forecasts, revenue would be at the “low end” of its predictions.
John Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, said;
“While never an easy decision to make, these reductions will help improve our operations and strengthen our ability to continue investing in growth.”
The expected cuts are likely to cost eBay around £40 million causing it’s to fall by nearly 7 per cent to $17.63.
Whilst eBay was explaining the cuts to its workforce, they then went to announce they had gone on the acquisition hunt.
EBay said it will acquire Bill Me Later, an online payment service, for $945 million in cash and outstanding options. In addition they have also bought two Danish classified advertising websites; dba.dk and bilbasen.dk. It is paying $390m for the 2 sites.
eBay already own online payment firm Paypal and having now bought Bill Me Later, lead the eBay president and chief executive John Donahoe to say:
“PayPal and Bill Me Later belong together, we now have a powerful combination of the two leading, complementary online payment products, each with proven benefits for consumers and online merchants.”
eBays recent moves highlight the fact that eBay is trying to shift the focus of its business away from its core market, online auctions, which has show very little growth in recent years. But towards more profitable businesses, such as classified advertisements and Paypal.
Tags: bill me later, classified advertising, eBay, online payment, paypal, redundancies
