PayPal to slash 2,000 jobs in latest tech company cost-cutting

PayPal says it will trim about 7% of its total workforce, or about 2,000 full-time workers, as tech companies look at cost-cutting measures

PayPal said on Tuesday it will trim about 7% of its total workforce, or about 2,000 full-time workers, as the digital payments company contends with what it calls “the challenging macro-economic environment.”

(For insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business, and policy, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache.)

PayPal said it will make the cuts over several weeks, with some of its organisations affected more than others. The company did not further specify. PayPal is the parent of Venmo, Xoom, and Honey, among other brands.

The company based in San Jose, California, is the latest in the technology sector to trim its headcount. During the month of January alone, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce announced tens of thousands of layoffs.

Last summer, activist investor Elliott Management bought a stake then worth about $2 billion in PayPal, which said it had entered into an “information-sharing agreement” with Elliott “to continue collaboration across a range of value-creation opportunities.”

“Over the past year, we made significant progress in strengthening and reshaping our company to address the challenging macro-economic environment while continuing to invest to meet our customers’ needs,” PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman said Tuesday in a statement. “While we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost structure, and focused our resources on our core strategic priorities, we have more work to do.”

PayPal Holdings Inc. is scheduled to report quarterly results on February 9.