EBay will slash 2400 jobs and is set to buy back shares as the company prepares to split its marketplace and payments businesses.
EBay, which also reported weak holiday sales and forecast sluggish revenue growth, said it’s exploring options for its enterprise unit, including a sale or sharemarket float.
The company is also adding three new board members, including a representative for activist shareholder Carl Icahn, who had pushed the company to split.
First-quarter revenue will be US$4.35 billion to $4.45 billion, short of analysts’ projection of $4.71 billion. Sales in the fourth quarter rose 9 percent to $4.92 billion, the slowest holiday-quarter gain since 2010.
CEO John Donahoe said splitting off EBay’s PayPal payments division will allow the unit to make other alliances and compete against a new breed of online-payment providers.
EBay’s stock declined less than one percent to $53.37 at the close in New York, leaving it down 4.9 percent this year.
