PayPal has begun a series of company-wide layoffs that will cut about nine percent of its global workforce – or roughly 2,500 jobs. These job cuts came after new CEO Alex Chriss took over, and came on top of a prior round of dismissals of seven percent last year.
In a letter sent to employees, Chriss noted that the company’s headcount reduction will be "made through direct cuts and elimination of open roles" and will take place over the year. According to the new CEO, 2024 is a year that will be filled with "difficult but necessary decisions to get us where we need to go." (Related: They are calling this "layoff season.")
News outlet The Information reported that this latest round will let go of existing staff across multiple teams, including engineering, research and development, and job listings that PayPal had planned to hire for.
"Today, I am writing to share the difficult news that we will be reducing our global workforce by approximately nine percent through both direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the year," said Chriss 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. At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."
"If your role is included in this workforce reduction, you will be notified between today and the end of the week. These decisions were not easy to make, and we are undertaking these actions with tremendous care and consideration," he continued. "All decisions are subject to consultation, where required by law. True to our values, we will support our employees' transitions with the utmost respect, support and compassion."
PayPal to use AI-driven "personalized experience"
Chriss has also announced a push into "revolutionizing commerce through artificial intelligence-driven personalization for both consumers and merchants," which he called the beginning of PayPal's "next chapter." That's his first major announcement since he replaced PayPal's long-time CEO Dan Schulman.
On Jan. 25, during PayPal Holdings' First Look - January 2024 keynote, Chriss introduced six innovations that would give its customers more reasons to shop with and use PayPal.
- Check-in/Checkout – PayPal integrated passkeys to allow customers to log in with their face or fingerprint with one tap to address annoying interruptions, like password prompts or lagging response times. It also allows them to check out twice as fast – with the same level of security.
- Fastlane – Shoppers can make fast and painless purchases by simply saving their payment and shipping information with Fastlane to check out with just one tap – "no username or password to remember, personal information to update and share credit card information with businesses all over the web."
- Smart receipts – Customers who shop with PayPal are issued receipts that would allow them to track their purchase history. It also harnesses AI to predict what they may want to buy next from merchants. Retailers using "Smart Receipts" can share an AI-personalized recommendation and offer cashback and other incentives or rewards within the receipt to frequent or returning shoppers.
- Advanced offers platform – This new, performance-based platform uses AI to organize and analyze transaction data and allow merchants to customize offers for customers. These businesses will only pay for performance and not "clicks." This also allows consumers to receive more relevant offers and more opportunities to earn rewards from the sellers. PayPal noted that the innovation comes with easy-to-use privacy controls so they can opt in or out if they don’t want their data shared with merchants.
- Reinvented PayPal app – The "CashPass" service is introduced to give customers access to cash-back offers generated by PayPal using AI, which will organize personalized offers based on their shopping behavior.
- Venmo business profiles – The new profiles will help shoppers discover small businesses and be able to learn their profile rankings and subscribe to them. The upgrade will provide new merchants with ways to drive traffic, generate sales and more meaningfully grow their businesses through increased visibility.
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