PayPal will cut 9% of its global workforce, or about 2,500 jobs, CEO Alex Chriss wrote Tuesday in an internal letter to employees, which was viewed by CNBC.
The cuts will affect both existing roles and job listings that PayPal had planned to hire for, and will take place over the course of the year, Chriss wrote. Affected employees will be notified by the end of the week.
“Across our organization, we need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication,” Chriss wrote in the memo, adding that PayPal will “continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth.”
Last week, PayPal announced a push into artificial intelligence features. It marked the first major announcement under Chriss, who joined as CEO in September from Intuit, the financial tech company behind TurboTax. The AI features include a faster checkout experience, AI-powered merchant recommendations for customers and a consumer app overhaul. Chriss called it the beginning of PayPal’s “next chapter.”
Read the full memo Chriss sent to all employees:
Team,
In our last Global All Hands, I shared that to build a growth organization and unlock our true potential, we need to be honest about how we can improve. During the last few months, I have spent as much time as possible with as many of you as possible to learn about our company’s great strengths, as well as where we need to move faster, where we need to change, and what we need to do to instill a culture of innovation that returns our company to the true position of strength it deserves.
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.
Today, I am writing to share the difficult news that we will be reducing our global workforce by approximately 9% through both direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the course of the year. We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth. At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth.
If your role is included in this workforce reduction, you will be notified between today and the end of the week. These decisions were not easy to make, and we are undertaking these actions with tremendous care and consideration. All decisions are subject to consultation, where required by law. True to our values, we will support our employees’ transitions with the utmost respect, support, and compassion.
PayPal has significant potential to create substantial value for our employees, our customers, and shareholders. Over the next year, we will work together to maximize our reach, scale, and resources, so that we can have an even greater impact for the customers we serve.
I am confident that our PayPal community will come through this period even stronger, and I am optimistic about the future we will create together.
Alex
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