ALBAWABA – eBay, the well-known online retailer, announced on Tuesday through a letter from Jamie Iannone, President and CEO, that they are making changes to organize eBay for a faster decision-making process and steadier growth. Despite the company recording $1.3 billion in profits last quarter, the letter added that eBay has to take the difficult decision of terminating the positions of 1000 workers, which equals about 9 percent of the overall company’s size.
This announcement comes through a wave of layoffs among big-scale companies like Google, Unity, Wayfair and Riot Games, just in the first month of 2024. According to Visual Capitalist, these layoffs are caused by an over-hiring trend through the COVID pandemic, which saw a peak in digital services use, as well as companies adjusting their workforce to align with the new year’s forecasts and goals.
While Lannone, said back in Nov. 2023 that they have “delivered another quarter of solid results” adding that the speed of innovation at the company has gone up, this layoff announcement, which is more than double last year’s February of about 4 percent of employees, explains that there is still change needed, doubling-down that the company’s strategy is correct but there is more to be done to ensure success.
Lannone added further that they requested all employees to work remotely on Jan. 24 in hopes of giving privacy throughout the company’s current step of contacting affected employees through Zoom to inform them of their termination, saying that eBay is dedicated to providing resources, empathy and support to these employees during these transitioning times.
The company is also limiting its contracted workers called “alternative workforce”, throughout the upcoming months. Lannone says that this will make eBay more agile and strong in the final statement, looking forward to the company’s future.
