EBay will cut 4% of its workforce as sales decline

Online retailer EBay, which sell pre-owned goods, is cutting about 500 employees, or 4% of its workforce, as the e-commerce company continues to face slower consumer spending after a brief pandemic boom.

The reductions are in response to the “macroeconomic situation around the world,” CEO Jamie Iannone said and are necessary to help “create long-term sustainable growth.” 

EBay employs around 900 people at its European headquarters in Blanchardstown in Dublin. The details are not yet known around how the company's Irish workforce will be impacted by the cuts. 

EBay is the latest company to eliminate positions in response to economic conditions. 

Sales have declined in the past six quarters as people shifted back to spending on experiences such as traveling and dining out that they postponed during the pandemic. 

Analysts, on average, expect the California-based company will report that revenue fell about 6% to $2.5bn (€2.3bn when it announces holiday-quarter results on February 22.

The “workforce reduction may be a move to streamline operations and make room for new investment focused on elevating the platform’s capabilities and visibility,” Poonam Goyal and Abigail Gilmartin, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said.

Amazon, EBay’s far larger rival, has said it’s cutting 18,000 jobs and reported last week that online sales dropped 2% in the holiday quarter. 

Wayfair, an online home-goods retailer, said last month it would eliminate 1,750 jobs, or 10% of its workforce.

- Bloomberg