EBay will eliminate 1,000 jobs

Bay Area tech giant eBay is the latest company in the region to announce a significant reduction in its workforce.

In an email to employees Tuesday, Jamie Iannone, the president and CEO of the online auction site, said approximately 1,000 positions, constituting around 9% of full-time employees, will be eliminated. Additionally, eBay plans to scale back contracts with its contingent workforce in the coming months.

“These are not actions we take lightly — and we recognize the impact they will have on all eBayers,” Iannone, who assumed leadership in 2020, wrote in the memo. “We have to say goodbye to people who have made so many important contributions to the eBay community and culture, and this isn’t easy.”

Despite the difficulty, Iannone stated that the layoffs are crucial for the company’s “long-term, sustainable growth.”

This marks the second major round of layoffs at eBay within a year. In February 2023, the company globally cut 500 employees, accounting for around 4% of its workforce at that time.

Employees affected by the recent cuts will be notified via Zoom, and Iannone urged all employees to work from home on Wednesday to “provide some space and privacy for these conversations.”

EBay was not the only tech company to announce substantial workforce reductions on Tuesday.

SAP, a global software company with a significant presence in the Bay Area, revealed plans to eliminate 8,000 positions. This move is part of the company’s strategic shift toward focusing on the development of artificial intelligence.

“The next phase is all about an ongoing transformation,” CEO Christian Klein said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “We are investing in AI, over a billion for the next two years, while of course, we’re also applying AI internally. So we will try for higher automation, automation of activities. It’s all about re-skilling and making sure that SAP on its own becomes more productive.”