Ebay to fire 500 employees, cut workforce by 4%

E-commerce firm eBay Inc said on Tuesday it will lay off 500 employees globally, representing 4% of its total workforce.

Shares of the San Jose, California-based company rose about 1% in aftermarket trade.

According to a CNBC report, in a memo to employees, CEO Jamie Iannone said the company decided to make cuts after examining the global macroeconomic environment over the past several months. He said the cuts will strengthen eBay’s ability to deliver better experiences for its customers, and it will help eBay focus on areas where it can make the most impact.


"This shift gives us additional space to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas - new technologies, customer innovations and key markets," said Jamie Iannone, Chief Executive Officer of Ebay in a message to employees.

A raft of US companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to Alphabet Inc have laid off thousands this year to ride out a demand downturn wrought by high inflation and rising interest rates.

Video-call service Zoom also announced layoffs, saying it would fire about 1,300 employees or about 15% of its workforce.

After the pandemic boom of a few years, technology companies ended 2022 with a bleak outlook. Across the sector thousands of jobs were cut to correct the over-hiring of the Covid period, and brace for, what experts call, a period of slower growth for the sector.

The layoff wave has swept not only startups and mid-sized firms, but also big tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet, among others.

So far, 312 tech companies have laid off 97,020 employees in 2023, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

Zoom, Dell, Pinterest and Tinder owner Match are among companies that have joined the layoff bandwagon more recently in a bid to rein in the costs amid a looming global economic downturn.