eBay to sack 1000 staff – almost 10pc of its workforce – via Zoom

The popular online marketplace has become the latest victim of the cost of living crunch, announcing it will axe almost 10 per cent of its total workforce via video calls.

Online marketplace eBay will sack almost one in 10 people across its global operations – via Zoom – saying its “overall headcount and expenses has outpaced the growth” of its business.

President and chief executive Jamie Iannone said the company will cut about 1000 roles – or 9 per cent of its full-time employees – in the coming months. He has requested all its US staff to work from home this week until the company decide whose roles will be “eliminated”.

The redundancies come as household budgets are crunched and the economy is set to slow this year, following the most aggressive series of interest rate rises in 30 years.

The company will also “scale back” the number of its contractors.

“Despite facing external pressures, like the challenging macroeconomic environment, we know we can be better with the factors we control,” Mr Iannone said.

“While we are making progress against our strategy, our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business. 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.”

eBay has a significant presence in Australia, and even has naming rights on a skyscraper in Sydney’s CBD. The company is yet to reveal how the job cuts will affect local operations, with its Australian representatives directing queries to Mr Iannone’s statement.

“Shortly, we will begin notifying those employees whose roles have been eliminated and entering into a consultation process in areas where required. Leaders will communicate the news directly via Zoom, and your VP or eLT member will send an email once the notifications in their group have been completed,” he said.

“We request that all US employees work from home on January 24 to provide some space and privacy for these conversations. We’re committed to treating everyone with respect and empathy through this transition and providing impacted employees with support and resources.

“These are not actions we take lightly — and we recognise the impact they will have on all eBayers. We have to say goodbye to people who have made so many important contributions to the eBay community and culture, and this isn’t easy.”

Mr Iannone acknowledges the mass retrenchments will be “difficult”.

“But I’m confident that by working together we will become stronger than ever.

“In the months ahead, you will see a more focused, agile, and responsive eBay — one that is better positioned to advance our purpose of creating economic opportunity for all. We are on a path to building a stronger eBay for the future — one that is growing, and resilient in the face of any challenge.

“Over the past three years, we made fundamental changes in our experiences across categories and accelerated the pace of innovation at eBay. In areas where we’re investing, we are seeing consistent increases in customer satisfaction and a meaningful improvement in our growth relative to the market.”

Mr Iannone said eBay’s strategy was the “right one”, but there is more the company can do to ensure its success.

“We need to better organise our teams for speed — allowing us to be more nimble, bring like-work together, and help us make decisions more quickly.”

The need for speed has become crucial in ecommerce, particularly following the launch of Amazon in Australia almost seven years ago. Amazon operates its own logistics network and fulfilment centres, adopting advanced robotics, which has dramatically reduced delivery times.

It is not the first mass cull at eBay. Almost nine years ago ahead of its split with PayPal, the company sacked 2400 people – about 7 per cent of its then global workforce.

eBay had 33,500 employees at the end of 2013, split roughly evenly between PayPal and its marketplace unit. At the end of 2022, it had 11,600 staff, according to SEC filings, the same number it had in 2005.