eBay Lays Off 1,000, Purchases Bill Me Later

eBay today announced lay offs amounting 1,000 employees, a figure that makes up ten percent of the company’s staff. More to the point, the company also announced a few acquisitions on the side.

While the world is busy with a Google/Yahoo! deal that could potentially result in a monopoly of online advertising, eBay has bought a competitor of PayPal’s Pay Later feature, Bill Me Later, which many people think will give the online auctioning company a firmer hold on the online payments market. The latter is a service which reviews your credit history and then, if you don’t raise any red flags, sends you the bill in the post at a later date.

According to ZDNet, eBay and Bill Me Later will see the company go after larger merchants, a move the company has labeled inevitable.

“PayPal and Bill Me Later just go together. We have been talking for two years now. Bill Me Later brings a strong complementary merchant base, delivers a compelling consumer proposition and gives us leverage to lower transaction expenses.”

It’s not yet clear as to whether or not eBay will be laying off Bill Me Later employees once the deal has been finalized however, the company has said the reduction in staff at eBay is a move expected to improve the company’s cost structure and streamline organisation.

As if purchasing one of PayPal’s most notable rivals and laying off at least 1,000 staff weren’t enough, eBay has also announced the purchase of dba.dk, Denmark’s leading online classifieds site and vehicles site, bilbasen.dk, for approximately $390 million in cash. The Bill Me Later deal set eBay back approximately $820 million in cash and and $125 million in outstanding options. The vision to gravitate toward larger merchants aside, speculation suggests eBay is buying viable companies now when tech stocks are at a low point.

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