EBay OZ Slashes Jobs

EBay Australia which is being used by distributors to sell unsold consumer electronic goods is set to slash 18 staff, as its international parent moves to slash 10 percent of its global workforce, with some 1000 fulltime employees and 600 contractors facing the axe worldwide.

EBay Australia which is being used by distributors to sell unsold consumer electronic goods is set toslash 18 staff, as its international parent moves to slash 10 percent of its global workforce, with some 1000 fulltime employees and 600 contractors facing the axe worldwide.

The axe is being wielded at the same time the company is spending $1.34 billion to acquire two payment and classified advertising companies

EBay, which operates in 39 markets including Australia, says the job cuts reflect a need to streamline the organisation to better compete in the current difficult economic climate.

“There is no doubt that the moves are partly due to the economic climate and we are looking to streamline operations, ” eBay Australia’s Daniel Feiler told CDN.

Feiler said that although the online trading company is continuing to grow in its divisions, this would not necessarily continue as it has in the past.

“We will report quarterly results in the coming weeks. We have been around for 13 years and, while we continue to grow areas like PayPal and classifieds, we are not growing as fast as 13 years ago,” he said.

“We are losing 18 jobs out of 1000 globally in a range of areas. But what is important is that the buyers and sellers will be unaffected by the announcement, as is the support offered to our customers.

“The most important thing for people to understand is that we are streamlining the organisation to make decision-making a little faster.”

EBay sales have been increasing globally, but at the slowest rate since 1998, while its third-quarter forecast is at the low end.

In the matter of acquisitions, EBay will pay $945 million for online-credit service Bill Me Later and merge it with PayPal. It will also pay about $390 million cash for Denmark’s Den Blaa Avis classified ads site.

Analysts say the purchase of Bill Me Later indicates an increasing reliance on payment services to boost revenue as it competes with Amazon.com. Where PayPal mainly serves small and medium-size businesses, Bill Me Later will allow it to target larger companies.

Bill Me Later allows PayPal to make more money on transactions by avoiding fee payments to credit-card companies and charging interest on credit transactions.