eBay is cutting 9% of its workforce. It's the second round of layoffs this year.

eBay is laying off about 9% of its workforce, its second round of job cuts this year. CEO Jamie Iannone announced the cuts in an internal memo on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 20, and an eBay spokesperson confirmed them to Reuters on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

eBay hasn't said how many people will lose their jobs. The Next Web, citing Bloomberg, put the number at roughly 1,000, while PYMNTS estimated about 1,100. Affected workers will be told "in the coming days," according to the memo as quoted by Value Added Resource. The company hasn't named the teams or offices involved.

Cutting while winning

"Our strategy is working," Iannone wrote, according to Reuters, adding that the next phase requires choices about where eBay focuses and invests. eBay's stock is up nearly 40% this year, Reuters reported, and second-quarter revenue rose 15% to $3.1 billion, per Value Added Resource.

In February, eBay cut about 800 jobs, roughly 6% of its staff, TechCrunch reported. The new cuts follow a rejected $56 billion takeover bid in May from GameStop, whose CEO, Ryan Cohen, had promised $2 billion in cost savings. eBay reports earnings on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

What the law requires

The federal WARN Act requires 60 days' written notice before a mass layoff, meaning at least 500 job losses at one site, or at least 50 that make up a third of that site's workforce. California's version is stricter: a layoff of 50 or more within 30 days at an establishment with 75 or more workers requires 60 days' notice to workers and the state, whatever the percentage. Both laws count job losses office by office, so a company-wide cut spread thin can slip under them. For February's round, eBay filed California notices covering 243 workers in San Jose and 28 in San Francisco, according to WARNTracker.

If your name is on the list

Watch for the warning signs of a layoff, as we covered after Kroger's cuts. Don't sign a severance agreement the day you get it. A first offer is often negotiable, and some terms are red flags. If you're 40 or older and part of a group layoff, federal law gives you 45 days to decide and the right to see the ages of who was cut and who was kept.

Sources

• Exclusive-EBay to lay off 9% of workforce in push to simplify operations, internal memo shows, Reuters via Yahoo Finance
• eBay will lay off 9% of its workforce in its second round of cuts this year, Quartz
• eBay to cut 9% of its staff, its second round of layoffs this year, The Next Web
• eBay Cuts 9% Of Workforce In Second Major Round Of Layoffs This Year, Value Added Resource
• EBay Cuts 1,100 Jobs to Pivot Toward High-Growth Markets, PYMNTS
• eBay to lay off 800 staff, TechCrunch
• eBay WARN notices, WARNTracker
• 29 U.S.C. § 2101: Definitions, Cornell Legal Information Institute
• Layoff Services: WARN, California Employment Development Department
• California Labor Code § 1401, Justia