Ebay lays off 500 employees
Hours after Zoom announced it would cut 1,300 jobs on Tuesday, another marquee San Jose tech company, eBay, said it would lay off 500 employees globally, or around 4% of its total workforce.
The CEO of the online auction site, Jamie Iannone, made the announcement in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, his company just the latest to slash jobs and expenses as companies, particularly those in tech, brace for economic headwinds.
“To create long-term, sustainable growth for eBay, we need to evolve our organization as we take the next step in our strategy — focused on driving growth, building a trusted marketplace, empowering enthusiasts and seeding new technologies for the future,” Iannone wrote in a memo to employees.
He said the layoffs were a result of those factors, and should give “us additional space to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas — new technologies, customer innovations and key markets — and to continue to adapt and flex with the changing macro, ecommerce and technology landscape.”
The CEO said the cuts would take place during the next 24 hours, adding that, “In some locations, the notifications are proposals subject to consultation as required by applicable law.”
He did not specify what severance packages and benefits affected employees might receive, if any.
Iannone did not take responsibility for the cuts as many other chief tech executives, including those at Microsoft and Google, have in recent months.
Unlike Zoom CEO Eric Yuan earlier in the day, who said he would take a 98% pay cut as part of the cost-cutting measures, Iannone was silent in his note on if and how layoffs might be accompanied by smaller executive pay packages.
Reach Chase DiFeliciantonio: Chase.DiFeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice
