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Paypal boss calls for ‘compassion’ – as he sacks 2,000 staff

PayPal - Geoff Pugh/The Telegraph
PayPal - Geoff Pugh/The Telegraph

The chief executive of PayPal has called for “compassion for each other” as the tech company joined its peers in sacking thousands of staff.

The digital payments company said it would cut around 7pc of its headcount, meaning 2,000 people will lose their jobs.

Dan Schulman, chief executive of Paypal, said: “Change can be difficult – particularly when it includes valued colleagues and friends departing.”

PayPal joins a slew of other technology companies slashing jobs so far this year. Amazon has cut 18,000 jobs, with Google saying that it would trim 12,000 staff. Microsoft has said it will lay off 10,000 workers.

Tech companies have been cutting staff numbers after aggressively hiring during the pandemic, betting on a permanent digital boom. However, amid a wider economic slowdown, they have been forced to scale back their ambitions.

Mr Schulman, 65, said staff leaving would be treated with the “utmost respect and empathy”. He added he was “confident we will come through… together with compassion for each other”.

Morale at tech companies has been plummeting after mass layoffs. Some staff have discovered they have been let go when their corporate login details stop working, or their work passes automatically deactivate.

Mr Schulman, who last year received $32m (£26m) in salary and share-based payments, is a proponent of “stakeholder capitalism”, which calls for companies to serve the interests of employees, suppliers, the planet and the general public, rather than just their shareholders.

The theory has been attacked by critics in the US by Republican politicians as a kind of “woke capitalism”.

Mr Schulman has said the company’s values “centre around the fight against any kind of discrimination”. However, the company has come in for criticism from some UK politicians after last year it briefly cut off payments to free speech campaigner Toby Young. It later reversed the ban.

The job cuts come after PayPal announced a share buyback programme worth up to $15bn last summer under pressure from activist shareholder Elliott Management.

The company has also been seeking to cut costs after its share price tumbled last year.

Separately, Intel, the chipmaker, is planning to cut executive pay as it seeks to save money without making mass redundancies. Its chief executive will take a 25pc base pay cut while other senior managers will see pay fall by 10pc.