PayPal Cutting 325 Employees as Part of Restructuring Plan

PayPal has confirmed that it is eliminating 325 positions in the company as part of its plan to consolidate its product divisions into one large group.

“While PayPal is strong and performing well, making decisions that impact our employees was hard. So this is a difficult day at PayPal,” said David Marcus, PayPal’s president, in a blog post. “These are good people, good friends and colleagues, who have played a role in creating PayPal’s strong global leadership position today.”

The restructuring plan was originally disclosed during eBay’s earnings call earlier this month, but it was unknown how many people would be affected.

This morning, the digital payments company said it informed about 325 full-time employees, primarily in its product and technology organizations, that they were being laid off. Additionally, PayPal also ended contracts with about 120 contractors globally.

During eBay’s conference call, CEO John Donahoe said that the new structure was designed to consolidate its product groups from nine to one. “Here’s the way to think about it — customers want a seamless experience across the Web, online and offline,” he said. “While it’s true there will be reductions, we are committed to accelerating the pace of innovation. We aren’t seeking cost reductions — this is 100 percent about streamlining the creation of great products.”

Separately, eBay said it will take a $15 million charge in the fourth quarter related to the staff reductions.

Here’s Marcus’ blog post explaining the cuts:

Delighting our customers every day with great, simple products and experiences is a priority for me, and for everyone at PayPal. It’s something we need to become better and faster at. And that means we need to transform how we work.

So we’ve been redesigning our product organization, collapsing nine product groups into one. We are creating agile teams of designers, engineers and product managers. Instead of being organized around projects, our teams will now be dedicated to products and focused on our customers — consumers, developers, small businesses and large retailers.

Unfortunately, making the right decisions on behalf of our customers meant we had to make some very tough decisions inside our company. This morning we informed approximately 325 full time employees, primarily in our product and technology organizations, that their roles are being eliminated. We also are ending contracts with approximately 120 contractors globally.

While PayPal is strong and performing well, making decisions that impact our employees was hard. So this is a difficult day at PayPal. These are good people, good friends and colleagues, who have played a role in creating PayPal’s strong global leadership position today. We appreciate all the contributions that they have made. And they are being treated with fairness and dignity, consistent with our culture and values.

Moving forward, I’m confident these changes will make PayPal even better and stronger. Our customers can expect faster innovation and great products and experiences that make their lives simpler. That’s our commitment — every day.

– David Marcus, President, PayPal