LONDON (AP) — Online retailer eBay Inc. will cut about 1,000 jobs, or an estimated 9% of its full-time workforce, saying its number of employees and costs have exceeded how much the business is growing in a slowing economy. It marks the latest layoffs in the tech industry.
CEO Jamie Iannone said in a message to employees on Tuesday that the company also will reduce how many “contracts we have within our alternate workforce over the coming months.”
Those who are being laid off will be told through Zoom calls with their bosses, Iannone said, requesting that people work from home Wednesday to allow privacy for those conversations.
“We need to better organize our teams for speed — allowing us to be more nimble, bring like-work together, and help us make decisions more quickly,” he said in the note, which was posted online.
“These changes are difficult, but I’m confident that by working together we will become stronger than ever,” Iannone added.
Now, companies from Google to Amazon have been making painful job cuts to reduce costs and bolster their bottom lines.
Other tech companies, including Spotify, Microsoft, Meta and IBM, also have recently cut jobs.
The head of eBay pointed to those concerns in the need to trim its workforce: “Despite facing external pressures, like the challenging macroeconomic environment, we know we can be better with the factors we control,” Iannone said.
The company has also faced internal problems that hurt its business. The online retailer will pay a $3 million fine to resolve U.S. criminal charges over a harassment campaign waged by employees who sent live spiders, cockroaches and other disturbing items to the home of a Massachusetts couple, according to court documents this month.
The Justice Department charged eBay with stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice more than three years after the employees were prosecuted in an extensive scheme to intimidate a couple who produced an online newsletter called EcommerceBytes that upset eBay executives with its coverage.
