eBay Drops The Axe, Goes Shopping

eBay announced today that they will be chopping their work force by 10%, terminating 1,000 permanent employees and a few hundred temps. The move is being attributed by the company as an effort to improve performance in its marketplace division, which it will somehow do with less employees. eBay also promises that this move has nothing to with their less-than-stellar growth amongst the rapid growth of online shopping.

To celebrate their new job cuts, the company then went shopping an picked up Bill Me Later, an online payment system similar to eBay's owned PayPal, for $945 million and DBA.dk, a Danish classifieds site akin to Craigslist. What better way to celebrate your companies liberation from pesky employees than to pick up a few new properties, with all their employees?

To be fair, it does seem that online auctions are on the out, or at least moving to the niche markets. Classified sites are easier to build and manage, and can be run with a lot less employees, while the company can still pull in decent listing and/or selling fees and/or ad dollars. And considering that Bill Me Later already counts Wal-Mart and Continental Airlines as clients, that additional revenue will suit eBay nicely.

I do have to say though, if I were an employee that got laid off today and that same day the company bought two new companies for over $1.25 billion, I'd be just the tiniest bit salty. That's like your boyfriend breaking up with you then showing up at the bar later that night with three boys hanging on him... just not cool!

EBay to Lay Off 10% of Work Force [NY Times]