PayPal enters the dance. The online payment giant announced in a press release the dismissal of some of its employees in the coming weeks. A decision adopted in a context of crisis for companies in the technology sector.
7% of the workforce laid off
“We will reduce our global workforce by approximately 2,000 full-time employees, which represents approximately 7% of our total workforce”, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman announced in a memo to employees. Over the next few days or weeks, executives from different areas of the company will have the daunting task of announcing the job cuts to affected employees.
Since the end of the pandemic, PayPal has experienced a slowdown in the use of its platform for payments, according to information from Bloomberg. A situation which would have led to a global policy of cost reduction and led to the announcements made by the company on Tuesday, January 31. An austerity policy that could save an additional $1.3 billion in 2023.
The volume of payments across PayPal’s many services reached $1.4 trillion last year, according to analyst estimates compiled by our peers. An increase of 9.6% compared to the previous year, which would however represent the weakest level of growth in the history of the company.
“We have to keep changing“
For his part, Dan Schulman evokes a “difficult macro-economic environment“, and initial cost-cutting measures that are insufficient in view of the situation.”Although we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost structure and focusing our resources on our key strategic priorities, we still have work to do. We must continue to change as our world, our customers and our competitive environment evolve“, says the entrepreneur.
Like many tech companies, PayPal has seen its workforce swell during the Covid-19 pandemic to meet growing customer demand on its platforms. With the health crisis over, and with the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the global economic horizon suddenly darkened. Inflation obliges, households are now turning to basic necessities, to the chagrin of the digital giants.
Since the start of the crisis, Google, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, IBM and many others have made layoffs. A carnage that does not seem about to stop.
