PayPal to cut 2,000 jobs in post-pandemic slowdown to control costs

PayPal Holdings said it will cut 2,000 employees, as it contends with a macroeconomic slowdown that has weighed on the firm’s business in recent quarters.

The cuts, which will affect about 7 per cent of the company's workforce, will take place in the coming weeks, chief executive Dan Schulman told employees in a memo.

“While we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost structure, and focused our resources on our core strategic priorities, we have more work to do,” Schulman said.

PayPal’s stock has been battered by the slowdown in growth in payments volume on its platform after the pandemic began to recede. In response, the company has vowed to reduce expenses – including through job cuts and the shuttering of offices across the country.

Those moves should have helped the company notch US$900 million in savings last year and at least an additional US$1.3 billion in 2023, Schulman has said. The 65-year-old CEO has been vocal about his plans to improve his firm’s operating leverage – or the ability to grow revenue faster than expenses.

PayPal shares jumped 1.9 per cent to US$81.14 at 3:55pm in New York. The stock has climbed 14 per cent this year, outpacing the 9 per cent advance of the S&P 500 Information Technology Index.

PayPal – like many other so-called pandemic darlings – saw headcount swell when the virus forced governments around the world to issue lockdown orders, spurring consumers to do more shopping online. Now, as those orders have lifted and supply chains remain under pressure, consumers have returned to in store shopping in droves.