eBay becomes fireBay and acquireBay, with 1600 firings!

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 11:45

Opinion and Analysis

“You’re fired”, says eBay to 1600 workers globally, likely unaware that the world’s biggest and most profitable online auction house was going to put workers on the chopping block, with 18 of those poor souls in eBay’s Australian operations.

There’s no job safety even when working for one of the Internet’s most profitable companies, at least for 1600 eBay employees who are the victims of an eBay decision to “streamline its organisation”.

This is approximately 10% of eBay’s workforce, and it comes at a time when eBay is spending more than US $1.3 billion in acquiring new companies, thus making it an opportune time to lose some employees while gaining new ones.

In an AAP article in The Age, eBay Australia spokesperson Daniel Feiler is quoted saying:

“The most important thing for people to understand is that we are streamlining the organisation to make decision-making a little faster”, while promising loyal eBay users that: “"What is really important for the users... is that there will be no impact on the existing customer support to Australians.”

Of course, eBay and Paypal users who have had disagreements with eBay over purchases and sales could be forgiven for agreeing with Feiler by remarking that there was no customer service to begin with, thus making claims of “no impact” a no-brainer to assert.

Feiler wouldn’t specify to AAP what roles would be cut, only saying “there are a variety of roles”.

The New York Times reports that eBay US CEO John J. Donahoe said “We are treating the affected people with the kinds of values you would expect out of eBay”, with the announcement to be made via webcast to employees.

The NYTimes also reports that eBay is spending US $920 million “in cash and options” to buy a firm called “Bill Me Later”, allowing people to buy products online, have an invoice sent within 30 days, and then “pay the bill outright or take out a loan”.

What else has eBay just purchased, what else does it already own, and what Australian TV media exposure has it just received over the Australian PayPal/EBS scandal? Please read on to page 2.