PayPal has begun company-wide layoffs, according to multiple reports, including an article published by The Information.
It is not yet clear at the time of writing how many people will be affected by the job cuts but one source told TechCrunch it was expected to be in the “thousands.” Update: Bloomberg reported today that about 9% of the company, or some 2,500 people, will be impacted.
Update: PayPal shared a letter that President and CEO Alex Chriss sent to employees today, confirming that 9% of staff would be affected by the job cuts “through both direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the course of the year.”
In it, he wrote: “While I have been encouraged by the innovation our team is delivering, we must execute faster and ensure we are focused on solving our customers’ most critical needs and problems. Specifically, across our organization, we need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication. We have started on that journey, but there is a lot of work to do – and 2024 marks a year of change, including some difficult but necessary decisions to get us to where we need to go.”
Nearly one year ago today, the company announced plans to lay off 2,000 employees, or about 7% of its workforce.
Over the past few months, PayPal has made a number of changes to its executive team. Chriss joined the company in September as its CEO after spending 19 years at Intuit. Soon after taking the helm, Chriss said he expected “to grow revenue outside of purely transaction-related volume,” as reported by Reuters. In November, Archie Deskus transitioned from serving as the company’s chief information officer to serve as its chief technology officer. Jamie Miller was tapped to serve as its chief financial officer.
PayPal has expanded over the years with its acquisitions of fintech such as Venmo, Xoom and Honey. But it has still struggled to compete with the likes of Apple and Stripe. Last week it it would begin piloting a few new upcoming updates to its service, some of which will leverage AI-driven personalization. The company is introducing a new “CashPass” cash-back offering called “Smart Receipts,” with personalized recommendations, enhanced checkout and guest experiences, Venmo enhancements for small businesses and a new offers platform for merchants.
In December, TechCrunch reported that Amazon was dropping Venmo as a payment option. In October, PayPal was hit with a class action lawsuit by consumers represented by law firm Hagens Berman alleging that the fintech giant’s anti-steering rules stifle competition against lower-cost payment platforms such as Stripe and Shopify.
And in May of 2022, we reported that PayPal had laid off dozens of employees from its San Jose headquarters.
Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up for TechCrunch Fintech here.
