PayPal has become the latest tech company to unveil sweeping job cuts, announcing plans to eliminate around 2,500 roles globally. This represents approximately 9% of the payment giant's workforce.
In an internal memo, PayPal CEO Alex Chriss stated the aim was to drive greater focus and efficiency, "right-sizing" the business. The reductions will affect both existing and planned new hires, with affected staff notified by the end of this week.
"Across our organisation, we need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication," Chriss wrote. But he added PayPal would "continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."
PayPal had roughly 29,900 employees at the end of 2022. A prior round of layoffs last January saw 2,000 roles removed, meaning the company has now shed around 4,500 jobs.
The cuts follow a turbulent period for PayPal, with its share price falling over 20% amid declining earnings and lowered profit forecasts. Chriss took over last year from previous CEO Dan Schulman.
Experts cite rising competition as a key challenge, with rivals like Apple and Zelle chipping away at PayPal's once-dominant position in digital payments. This month, several analysts downgraded their outlook amid profit pressures.
The cuts at PayPal mirror a wider trend across the tech sector. According to layoffs.fyi, around 100 tech firms laid off approximately 25,000 workers in January alone as part of restructuring and cost-cutting.
Google fired over 1,000 staff and warned of more reductions ahead. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and others also unveiled major cuts, with some analysts predicting the economic instability could persist throughout 2024.
While necessary for the companies' bottom lines, the layoffs spell career uncertainty for thousands in the tech industry globally.
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