(UnitedVoice.com) – The Big Tech industry has taken several massive hits in the last three years as it struggles to cope with the nation’s recovery from forced quarantines and shutdowns. Online marketplaces and e-commerce sites thrived during that time frame since their operations didn’t depend on in-person sales.
However, many of them altered their operations to the extent they were forced to let massive amounts of workers go when the nation’s economy re-opened. Others fell victim to the failure of Bidenomics and had to decrease their payroll burdens to survive.
A major online retailer recently had to face the music and reduce its workforce by nearly 10%.
Another Big Tech Company Falls Victim to the Country’s Challenging Economic Times
On January 24, the Washington Times published a report discussing eBay’s recent decision to cut roughly 9% of its full-time workforce, about 1,000 workers. Like Amazon and other Big Tech companies, the online retailer said its costs, particularly those related to payroll, had exceeded the company’s recent growth level.
EBay CEO Jamie Iannone confirmed that officials distributed a company-wide message telling workers that it would reduce the number of contracts they retain “within [EBay’s] alternate workforce over the [upcoming] months.”
Iannone said the company would inform workers it planned to lay off through remote conferences with their bosses using Zoom. He said eBay directed its employees to work from home on January 24 to provide privacy for impacted workers discussing their impending job losses.
The company head said he remained optimistic regarding eBay’s future. He conceded that the personnel losses and other company-wide changes would present immediate challenges for workers. However, he expressed his confidence that the company would emerge from the situation “stronger than ever.”
Those layoffs arrived in the wake of other bad news for eBay.
The Hits Keep Coming
On January 11, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts issued a press release detailing an agreement it reached with eBay to pay a $3 million criminal penalty related to an intimidation and harassment campaign from 2019.
Federal prosecutors charged the online retailer with two counts each of stalking via electronic communications services and through interstate travel. EBay also faced lone counts of obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Court documents alleged that several eBay workers mounted a terroristic campaign against a couple who published a website focusing on leading the e-commerce industry. Acting US Attorney Joshua Levy noted that the retailer “put the victims through pure hell” by engaging in “horrific, criminal conduct” designed to protect the brand by “silencing their reporting.”
Levy also confirmed that the Justice Department’s investigation led to the conviction of seven former eBay contractors or employees. The said ringleader of the stalking and intimidation campaign received a 57-month prison sentence.
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