eBay Plans Thousands Of Layoffs, Donahoe To Leave Board

Looks like lots of folk will be leaving eBay—voluntarily or not—as it prepares for next year’s spin-out of PayPal. The company is preparing “at least 3,000” layoffs, which amounts to about 10 percent of its workforce, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. And eBay CEO John Donahoe plans to quit the eBay board when the companies split and move solely to the PayPal board, Recode notes.

On the layoff plans, the Journal describes it merely as one plan that eBay execs are considering. That plan, though, anticipates that it will “primarily affect workers in eBay’s core marketplace division” including eBay.com and StubHub, as opposed to PayPal personnel.

“Analysts have said an independent eBay would be a candidate for a buyout, and job cuts would help lower operating costs, a key metric for buyout firms. Operating costs companywide jumped 14 percent in this year’s first nine months to $6.4 billion, which is roughly half of total revenue,” the Journal story said. “EBay is controlling costs in other ways. It once planned to expand its eBay Now one-hour delivery service to 25 markets by the end of this year. But it has been held at five markets as eBay works on its economics.”

The executive overseeing these eBay planned changes, of course, is eBay CEO John Donahoe. But he has reportedly decided his heart is with PayPal and that that will be the only board he plans to sit on post-split.

“Donahoe’s decision is being influenced in part by a desire to give current eBay executive Devin Wenig — who will become CEO upon the split — the freedom to run the company as he sees fit without having to answer to his former boss,” the Recode story said. “Current eBay CFO Bob Swan will join eBay’s board should Donahoe follow through on his desire to serve only on PayPal’s.”

It’s possible that this board switch had been planned all along. When PayPal announced the PayPal split plans, the statement said: “Neither Donahoe nor Swan will have an executive management role in the new eBay and PayPal companies. But to provide continuity, they each expect to serve on one or both of the boards of the two companies.”