PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) is the latest company to announce that it’s carrying out layoffs, as its CEO, Alex Chriss, disclosed in an email to employees that it plans to eliminate 2,500 positions. The PayPal layoffs will reduce the fintech giant’s workforce by roughly 9%.
The firm dismissed about 2,000 of its employees in 2023.
More About the PayPal Layoffs
Chriss stated that the downsizing would be carried out “through both direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the course of the year.”
He added that the PayPal layoffs would enable the firm to move forward more quickly in order “to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth.”
Last November, Chriss said that he would cut the company’s costs. He took the helm of the firm last September.
PayPal’s AI Plans and Citi’s Doubts
On Jan. 25, Chriss disclosed that the firm would introduce six new AI-driven features. Among these changes are a faster checkout experience, personalized recommendations from merchants, an “advanced offers platform” that enables marketers to “provide relevant, personalized, real-time offers to consumers,” and “a reinvented PayPal consumer app giving shoppers new ways to earn cash back and more reasons to use PayPal.”
On Jan. 16, Citi put PYPL stock “on a downside 30-day catalyst watch.” The bank believes that the firm’s gross profit per transaction may not start increasing again as quickly as some anticipate. Moreover, the bank warned that the company could avoid providing full-year guidance when it reports its fourth-quarter results. Such a scenario would be negative for PYPL stock, it added.
PYPL Stock: What Investors Should Watch
Investors who own PYPL stock and those who are thinking of buying it should try to determine whether PayPal’s cost-cutting and its new initiatives are boosting its top and bottom lines.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
