For a company that helped invent online shopping as we know it, eBay now finds itself trimming staff while trying to rewrite its next chapter. The e-commerce firm said Thursday it is cutting about 800 roles, or roughly 6% of its full-time workforce, as it reshapes the business amid heavier spending on artificial intelligence and a renewed push into fashion resale.
The San Jose, California-based company had about 12,300 employees worldwide at the end of 2025, according to its latest annual filing. The reductions span teams across the organization. In a statement, eBay said the move is intended to “reinvest across our business and align our structure with our strategic priorities,” adding that affected employees would be supported “with care and respect.”
The announcement comes just days after eBay disclosed plans to acquire Depop, a secondhand fashion marketplace owned by Etsy, for about $1.2 billion in cash. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter pending regulatory approval, is aimed squarely at younger shoppers. Depop counts roughly 7 million active buyers, about 90% of whom are under 34. It recorded around $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2025, with nearly 60% growth in the United States.
Whether the layoffs are directly linked to the Depop purchase has not been confirmed. What is clear is that eBay is reshaping its workforce at the same time it is expanding in areas it sees as higher-growth segments, particularly fashion resale.
Chief Executive Officer Jamie Iannone has been steering the company toward so-called focus categories, including collectibles, car parts and accessories, refurbished goods, and now fashion. In its fourth-quarter earnings report, eBay said gross merchandise volume from these focus areas rose more than 16% year over year. For the full year 2025, revenue reached $11.1 billion, up 8% from the previous year, while gross merchandise volume hit $79.6 billion, a 7% annual increase.
Those numbers show growth, but not at the pace of some rivals. Amazon and Walmart continue to expand their online reach, while newer platforms such as Temu, Shein, TikTok Shop and Etsy compete for attention, often with aggressive pricing or social media integration. In that environment, eBay’s strategy has been to double down on areas where it believes it has stronger brand recognition, particularly in resale and collectibles.
The layoffs are not the first in recent years. In early 2024, eBay said it would cut about 1,000 employees, or roughly 9% of its staff at the time. In 2023, it eliminated around 500 roles, about 4% of its workforce then. Each round was framed as part of a plan to streamline the company and manage costs after the surge in online shopping during the pandemic cooled.
This latest cut follows a period in which eBay has increased spending on artificial intelligence. The company has rolled out AI systems internally and introduced new features aimed at helping sellers write product listings and buyers find items more easily. It has also partnered with OpenAI on what it describes as an agent-based web browsing experience.
Investors have shown mixed reactions to eBay’s efforts. The company’s stock has fallen about 2% year to date and roughly 10% over the past month. On Thursday morning, shares traded around $85. That drop reflects broader concerns about competition and growth, even as eBay points to gains in its targeted categories.
The workforce reduction also comes in the wake of legal issues that have lingered over the company. Earlier this week, eBay reached a settlement with a Massachusetts couple, David and Ina Steiner, who were harassed and stalked by several former eBay employees. The Steiners, who run the blog EcommerceBytes, sued the company in 2021 after the campaign targeted them with threatening messages and unwanted deliveries. Two former executives were sentenced to prison in 2022 in connection with the scheme. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
While the harassment case is separate from the layoffs, it adds to a period of internal adjustment for the company. In recent years, eBay has been attempting to reposition itself not as a general online marketplace competing head-to-head with Amazon, but as a specialist in certain categories where community and resale matter more than speed of delivery.
The Depop acquisition fits that narrative. The fashion resale market is growing at an annual rate above 10% and is projected to reach more than $500 billion by 2034, according to industry estimates cited in connection with the deal. By acquiring Depop, eBay gains access to a user base that skews young and socially engaged, a demographic that has not always been its strongest.
Depop is expected to continue operating under its own brand, which may allow eBay to keep its established marketplace separate from the more curated, social-media-friendly style of Depop. That separation could help avoid alienating either user group, though it also means managing two distinct brands with different cultures.
For employees, the layoffs introduce uncertainty at a time when technology companies across the United States have been reducing headcount. The cuts at eBay follow similar announcements from other firms that are adjusting to slower online growth after the pandemic-era surge.
The company has not detailed how the reductions are distributed across regions or functions, nor has it specified severance terms. It has said that decisions were based on operating needs and areas where roles overlapped or no longer matched future plans.
