eBay To Slash 2,400 Jobs In Major Shake-Up

eBay has announced plans to cut 2,400 jobs as it prepares to separate Paypal from the rest of the business.

The online retail-based company said the losses represented 7% of its total workforce.

The cuts would enable it to simplify its structure and boost profit, eBay said.

The California-based firm, which has been planning to spin off its PayPal payments business in the second half of the year, also confirmed it may separate or sell its enterprise unit, which develops online shopping sites for retailers.

eBay said too that it agreed with activist investor Carl Icahn, who urged it to spin off PayPal, that he should get an executive from his investment firm to sit on eBay's board.

Icahn holds a near 8% stake in eBay.

The announcements overshadowed the company's results which showed fourth quarter revenue increased 9% to $4.9bn (£3.2bn) on the same period last year, resulting in a 12% rise during 2014 as a whole.

It highlighted a 58% rise in mobile payment volumes in the three months to 31 December.

The statement added: "Looking forward to 2015, we will be simplifying organisational structures to focus the businesses and ensure that we are set up to compete and win.

"During the first quarter, we plan to reduce our workforce globally by approximately 2,400 positions which a represents about 7% of our total workforce across eBay Marketplaces, PayPal, and eBay Enterprise.

"We will also be exploring strategic options for eBay Enterprise, including a sale or IPO.

"Enterprise is a strong business and a leading partner for large retailers, managing mission critical components of their e-commerce initiatives.

"However, it has become clear that it has limited synergies with either business and a separation will allow both to focus exclusively on their core markets, as we create two independent world class companies."