SINGAPORE: PayPal is set to cut 2,500 jobs across the globe, which means a nine per cent reduction of its workforce, CEO Alex Criss said in a Jan 30 (Wednesday) letter published as a press statement on its site.
“Today, I am writing to share the difficult news that we will be reducing our global workforce by approximately 9 per cent through both direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the course of the year,” wrote Mr Criss, who took over as CEO in September of last year.
“We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth. At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth.”
Employees affected by the dismissals are said to have begun to be notified on Jan 30, and the notifications are set to continue through the end of the week. PayPal already cut 2,000 jobs in early 2023. The company has a headcount of 13,000.
PayPal’s sizable round of job cuts is the latest that has affected big-name tech brands in the past months. Earlier this month, Google laid off hundreds of workers to trim expenses while the company continues to focus on AI.
Amazon, TikTok, Discord, Microsoft, and Meta are other tech giants that have also dismissed workers.
It appears that Google is not the only company to focus on AI, with the PayPal CEO writing that across the organization, “we need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication.”
He added that 2024 marks a year of change for the company, which entails “some difficult but necessary decisions to get us to where we need to go.”
While PayPal is a pioneer in online payments, rivals such as Zelle and ApplePay have arisen in the past few years. The company saw an eight per cent year-on-year revenue growth as of September 2023, reaching US$7.42 billion (S$9.94 billion).
Nevertheless, Bloomberg pointed out that PayPal’s shares over the past year dropped by more than 20 per cent.
“PayPal has significant potential to create substantial value for our employees, our customers, and shareholders. Over the next year, we will work together to maximize our reach, scale, and resources, so that we can have an even greater impact for the customers we serve,” wrote Mr Criss. /TISG
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