Online auction house eBay is axing 1,000 jobs to save around
£85m in costs a year, whilst spending almost £740m on three
acquisitions.
The job cuts are the equivalent of around 10% of the firm's
global workforce.
Despite the cuts,
eBay, which also owns PayPal and Skype, has announced it is
acquiring US internet payments firm Bill Me Later.
Bill Me Later allows US shoppers to make purchases online
without having to use a credit card. Once they buy items from
signed up retailers, they can pay for them later on receipt of a
monthly bill.
They can use cheques or money orders to settle for goods. With
credit increasingly scarce in the US, eBay thinks this acquisition
is a useful addition to its PayPal business.
The firm is also acquiring Danish online classifieds site dba.dk
and vehicles website bilbasen.dk.
The company will announce its third-quarter results next week,
and it has already issued a sales warning to prepare analysts and
the market for the worst.