Layoff wave: PayPal to sack 2,000 employees: CEO Dan Schulman

Digital payments company PayPal has announced it is laying off 2,000 full-time employees, or about 7 per cent of its global workforce, to address the "challenging macroeconomic environment."

CEO Dan Schulman

According to PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman, these employment cuts will take place over the upcoming weeks, with some organisations being more negatively affected than others.

"We will treat our departing colleagues with the utmost respect and empathy, provide them with generous packages, engage in consultation where required, and support them with their transitions," he wrote in a message shared with PayPal employees late on Tuesday.

He said that while the company made substantial progress in right-sizing its cost structure and focused resources on core strategic priorities, "we have more work to do".

"We must continue to change as our world, our customers, and our competitive landscape evolve. Addressing these changes requires us to make hard decisions that will impact some of our colleagues," the CEO wrote.

PayPal to discuss effects

PayPal leaders will discuss the precise effects on teams and business units over the coming days and weeks.

In light of the difficult macroeconomic conditions throughout the world and concerns about a recession, PayPal joins a growing list of businesses that have laid off thousands of people, including Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and others.

Elon Musk co-founded the online bank X.com in 1999; in 2000, it merged with Confinity to become PayPal.

PayPal was purchased by online retailer eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

With inputs from Agencies.