The financial services downturn in the United States has claimed its first few Australian victims, with the local office of online auction king eBay today showing 18 staff the door.
Axe Fight image by Laurel Fan, CC 2.0)
The company said the restructure was aimed at making the eBay organisation "more effective and competitive in this difficult economic climate".
"Our priority is to talk to our people to get through what is a difficult day," said representatives from eBay's Australian office in a statement.
The e-tailer said local customer support and account managers would be spared the cull, with the cuts to come from marketing, finance and administration divisions.
The lay-offs come as eBay globally overnight said it would fire 10 per cent of its workforce, including over 1,000 permanent employees and several hundred contractors.
The company expects the global lay-offs to cost it a restructuring charge of some US$70 to US$80 million in the current quarter. Shares in eBay Inc were as high as US$40 on the NASDAQ index this time last year. Today they are trading at under half the value (just under US$18).
Carousel image: 'The Axe' by Marcel Hol, royalty free.
Good riddance to a greedy monopolistic company that screwed its users for all they had. This is just the beginning. I can't wait until eBay and Paypal are dead and buried and their current or future competitors give us fair and decent service.