PayPal to cut several hundred jobs, say reports
The payments company is streamlining operations as it takes on newcomers in the hot market for online and other payments, according to news agency sources.
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PayPal is cutting 3 percent of its workforce, or from 300 to 400 jobs, as new President David Marcus looks to streamline operations and trim costs, according to reports.
Bloomberg cited an unnamed source in reporting the news, and Reuters followed with its own report later in the day, also citing an anonymous source.
PayPal's product and technology groups would be hardest hit by the cuts, which will occur in the next few weeks, Bloomberg said. PayPal currently employs about 13,000 people.
The company is facing competition in the online-payments market from startups like Stripe and WePay. It's also taking on payment wunder-company Square with its PayPal Here smartphone-friendly credit card reader.
Marcus came to eBay-owned PayPal in July of last year, when eBay bought Zong, the mobile-payments company he founded. Bloomberg quotes eBay CEO John Donahoe as saying that he tapped Marcus to lead PayPal because Donahoe wanted to bring "startup energy" to PayPal, which has been around since about 2000.
Both Bloomberg and Reuters published the following statement from PayPal in response to their inquiries: "We have told PayPal employees about plans under way to strengthen and simplify how we create and deliver consistently great products and brand experiences to our customers." And Bloomberg added more from the e-mail it received: "We have not yet discussed how these plans may impact any existing jobs across our product, technology and marketing teams."