eBay to cut 10% of workforce

Economic doom and gloom continues

6 October 2008 16:40 GMT / By Katie Scott

It really is looking gloomy at the moment.

So far today, we've had Sony Ericsson admitting it is going sack 450 staff over in the States, and now eBay had stated that it is going to have to cut its worldwide workforce by 10%.

The company is soon to release its results for the third quarter of 2008 and is expecting its revenue to be towards the lower end of its predictions.

Despite this, the company is expecting its profits to be higher than expected, but is making job cuts nevertheless.

Around 1000 staff are going to face redundancy, as well as several hundred temporary workers.

The restructuring is expected to cost between $70 to $80 million.

Ironically, eBay is also planning a spending spree putting aside an estimated $1.3 billion to buy companies that will "bolster its online payments and classifieds businesses", says Reuters.

These include the Bill Me Later payments service which will cost the company around $820 million in cash and $125 million in options.

eBay is also buying Danish online classifieds businesses Den Bla Avis and BilBasen for about $390 million.