By Sabela Ojea


PayPal plans to trim 9% of its total workforce this year as part of a restructuring plan.

The digital payments company's headcount reduction comes on top of a prior round of layoffs of 7% last year, and will be made through direct cuts and the elimination of open roles, according to a letter sent to employees reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The Information and Bloomberg reported the news earlier on Tuesday.

"We need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication," Chief Executive Alex Chriss said in the letter.

"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," Chriss added.

Employees losing their jobs would be notified by the end of the week. PayPal employed about 29,900 people as of the end of 2022, with about 40% of them based in the U.S.

The company's latest cost-cutting initiatives comes after Chriss took over as CEO and former General Electric Finance Chief Jamie Miller succeeded Blake Jorgensen as finance chief.

PayPal is expected to post earnings for the fourth quarter next week.


Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-30-24 1551ET