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EBay, that old warhorse of online retailing, is planning to cut 1,000 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, to lower costs in the face of a “challenging macroeconomic environment,” according to a blog post from CEO Jamie Iannone.
Despite delivering “solid results” in the last quarter, the company said costs need to come down, and that means cutting jobs and streamlining operations.
“While we are making progress against our strategy, our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business,” Iannone wrote. “To address this, we’re implementing organizational changes that align and consolidate certain teams to improve the end-to-end experience, and better meet the needs of our customers around the world.”
Staying relevant: The announcement comes as eBay struggles to find its footing in a post-pandemic economy. In the third quarter, the number of active buyers on eBay declined 3% YoY to 132 million. Yet as recently as the first quarter of 2021, during the lockdown-fueled e-commerce boom, the platform boasted 187 million active users.
- The uptick in users marked a reversal of the company’s fortunes the previous year, when it lost its spot as the second largest online retailer behind Amazon to Walmart in 2020.
But once this online shopping frenzy faded, eBay was once again struggling to stay relevant.
The company recently doubled down on efforts to distinguish itself from the competition by focusing on key categories such as collectibles and auto parts. Recent initiatives include a program that stores high-value trading cards for collectors and a verification program for auto parts and accessories.
Iannone expressed confidence in this strategy and said eBay plans to stick with it: “Our strategy is the right one, but there is more we can do to ensure our success,” he wrote. “We need to better organize our teams for speed—allowing us to be more nimble, bring like-work together, and help us make decisions more quickly.”