ebay to shed 2,400 jobs ahead of PayPal split
Online auction house eBay has announced it is to slash 2,400 posts by March as it gears up to spin off its online payment service PayPal in the second half of the year.
Redundancies will be spread across the board at its eBay Marketplaces, PayPal and eBay Enterprise divisions, the latter of which may be subject to a sale or public offering.
John Donahoe, president and CEO of eBay said: "In a year of unexpected events and distractions, we ended 2014 with double-digit revenue growth, solid earnings growth and strong cash flow, reflecting the fundamental strengths of our company. PayPal had another strong quarter, finishing an excellent year. eBay, while facing challenges, continues to be a great business and is focused on stabilizing performance and engaging its core customers. Looking ahead, our plans are on track to separate eBay and PayPal into independent companies in the second half of 2015, and we are confident this is the right strategic path for each business."
The shake-up comes in the wake of eBay’s fourth quarter earnings report, which surprised on the upside with revenues of $4.9bn, although this is forecast to decline in the first quarter to no more than $4.45bn – below analysts forecasts.