Over a thousand jobs are going at eBay as ecommerce giant admits it grew too fast

ebay logo
(Image credit: Shutterstock.com / Ascannio)

eBay has announced plans to cut around a thousand jobs as the company looks to ensure its "long-term success".

An announcement by company CEO Jamie Iannone confirmed that “approximately 1,000 roles,” or the equivalent of around 9% of the company’s full-time workforce, would be eliminated as it strives for better cost efficiency.

The ecommerce giant claims to have been on a transformative journey over the past three years, since the pandemic, making shifts in user experiences and driving customer satisfaction in certain areas that have received investment.

eBay announces large-scale layoffs

Though layoffs have continued into 2024, the final weeks of 2022 and the early part of 2023 were considered to be the most serious. A total of more than 262,000 tech workers were made redundant in the 2023 calendar year (via layoffs.fyi), with some of the most considerable reductions accounting for around 10-15% of companies’ workforces.

eBay’s decision to reduce its headcount by 9% is pretty significant, even by 2023’s standards, however it’s unclear precisely what percentage of all of the company’s workers is affected, given that the 9% relates to full-time workers only.

The announcement confirmed that, despite continued consumer spend, eBay’s spend has become a problem: “our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business.”

Leaders have been told to communicate the workforce changes directly via eBay’s preferred video conferencing platform, Zoom. In a bid to soften the blow, the company asked all US workers to work from home on January 24 to allow “space and privacy for these conversations.”

TechRadar Pro asked eBay to confirm more details about the layoffs, including any information regarding a redundancy package to support affected workers. The company did not immediately respond.

More from TechRadar Pro

Craig Hale

With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!

Read more
Microsoft
Microsoft reveals another round of job cuts
salesforce logo on blue background
Salesforce is slashing 1,000 jobs, but says workers will be able to reapply
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Google CEO reveals major job cuts as part of "efficiency" move
HPE
HPE set to cut thousands of employees despite results rise
Meta social media icons are being displayed on a smartphone among Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Threads, and other products, with the Meta icon visible in the background.
Meta is cutting 5% of its workforce as Zuckerberg looks to "raise the bar"
Google logo at Made by Google
Not even Google is safe from job cuts - cloud, HR roles set to go
Latest in Pro
Finger Presses Orange Button Domain Name Registration on Black Keyboard Background. Closeup View
I visited the world’s first registered .com domain – and you won’t believe what it’s offering today
Racks of servers inside a data center.
Modernizing data centers: an efficient path forward
Dr. Peter Zhou, President of Huawei Data Storage Product Line
Why AI commonization is so important for business intelligent transformation and what Huawei’s data storage has to offer
Wix automation
The world's leading website builder aims to save businesses time with new tool
Data Breach
Thousands of healthcare records exposed online, including private patient information
China
Juniper patches security flaws which could have let hackers take over your router
Latest in News
Google Pixel 8a in aloe green showing
Google Pixel 9a benchmark link teases the performance of the upcoming mid-ranger
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #1148)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #379)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #645)
Apple iPhone 16 Pro HANDS ON
Leaked iPhone 17 dummy units may have given us our best look yet at all four models
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over