Alex Chriss, who took over as CEO last September, said that the fintech giant needs to make some ‘difficult but necessary decisions to get us to where we need to go’.
PayPal has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 9pc to “right-size” its business and cut costs in the latest round of tech layoffs this year.
In a letter sent to employees yesterday (30 January), CEO and president Alex Chriss said that the layoffs will include 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,” said Chriss, who took over as PayPal CEO and president in September, replacing Dan Schulman.
“At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth.”
Chriss said that affected employees, approximately 2,500 in number, will be notified by the end of the week.
“Specifically, across our organisation, 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.”
In November last year, Chriss said after his first earnings report as CEO that the fintech giant’s cost base “remains too high” and that PayPal will align its resources to its “most profitable growth priorities”.
With around two decades of experience in various tech roles, Chriss was previously vice-president and general manager of the small business and self-employed group at Intuit, a US software company that provides fintech products to millions of customers.
In 2021, he led the company’s $12bn acquisition of marketing platform Mailchimp.
“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 instil a culture of innovation that returns our company to the true position of strength it deserves,” he wrote yesterday.
“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.”
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