In its mission to revolutionise commerce, PayPal has cut 2,500 jobs in hopes to improve efficiency and focus.
The payments giant announced the reduction of 9% of its global workforce yesterday via a message from Alex Chriss, President and CEO at PayPal.
In the message, Chriss explained that he had spent the last few months with as many people as possible to “learn about our company’s great strengths, as well as where we need to move faster, where we need to change, and what we need to do to instil a culture of innovation that returns our company to the true position of strength it deserves,” said Chriss.
It has been a busy year for the firm, so far it has conducted its first stable coin investment, revealed six new innovations ‘to spearhead digital commerce growth’, and announced plans to step up its use of artificial intelligence.
This year has signified a determined push to improve on productivity and growth for the payments company. So why has it just announced 2,500 jobs will be cut?
Amid rising competition in its sector from rivals such as Apple, Zelle and Block, Chriss was brought in from technology company Intuit last year, with hopes that Chriss would revive the company’s share price which has fallen by more than 20% in the past 12 months.
In November, PayPal published its first earnings under new leadership, which surprised analysts as the company topped expectations.
In hopes of duplicating the success from November, PayPal has decided to layoff nine percent of its global workforce. In the message, PayPal’s President explains that the company ‘must execute faster’ with a more focus and drive, highlighting the firm’s urgent need to ‘deploy automation’, which refers to the company’s six new innovations.
Chriss added: “Today, I am writing to share the difficult news that we will be reducing our global workforce by approximately nine percent through both direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the course of the 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.”
PayPal staff affected by the layoffs will be notified by the end of the week with the company promising to stay ‘true’ to its values and support employees’ transitions.
Chriss concluded: “I am confident that our PayPal community will come through this period even stronger, and I am optimistic about the future we will create together.”
