A fresh round of layoffs has hit high-earning senior employees and engineers at PayPal days after the payments giant cut over 200 jobs in India as part of the firm’s previously announced multi-year turnaround plan. According to a notice filed with California’s Employment Development Department (EDD), the new wave of job losses will impact 251 employees at the US company’s San Jose headquarters.
Like the recent layoffs in India, these job cuts are also part of the broader 20% workforce reduction initiated as part of extensive cost-saving measures under CEO Enrique Lores, who officially became the tech giant’s new president and chief executive in March. At the time of the initial announcement, the company stressed these cost-cutting measures would save about $1.5 billion over the next two to three years (and $400 million by year-end), as it also focuses on investing more in AI integration.
The plan to streamline the organisation’s structure was introduced after the firm’s Q1 results left investors unhappy. PayPal has also been facing intensive pressure to stay ahead in an extremely competitive and crowded market, as even Big Tech companies (such as Google and Apple) have entered the payments space, in addition to newcomers Klarna and Stripe making their mark.
PayPal’s latest layoff round: All we know
As cited by The New York Post, The Los Angeles Times and SFGate, a WARN filing with the state indicated that the 251 employees set to lose their jobs as part of the larger layoffs include dozens of senior directors, managers and engineers.
US federal law requires companies to comply with the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) and give advance notice in cases of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs, according to the US Department of Labor website. EDD’s official website further details that these notices must explain how companies plan on supporting laid-off employees.
A report by local outlet SFGate, covering news in the San Francisco Bay Area, showed that senior directors at the company typically earn more than $300,000, based on previous company job postings for such roles.
The state filing disclosed that these layoffs will take effect on October 30, 2026. SFGate’s report, citing the official filing, suggested the cuts will also affect over 100 engineering-related roles, with more than 50 senior software engineers, in addition to nearly 50 directors and over 40 senior managers.
A spokesperson for the company, co-founded under a different name (Cofinity) in 1998, confirmed that the proposed staffing changes are part of the “previously announced multi-year transformation to simplify our global operations, strengthen execution, and position the company for long-term growth,” as quoted by The New York Post.
“Decisions like these are never easy. We recognise the impact they have on our employees and are committed to supporting them through this transition,” the statement added.
Employees affected under PayPal’s larger layoff plan
Back in May, Bloomberg reported that PayPal’s multi-year plan would involve laying off 20% of its global workforce in the next few years. These would account for 4,760 jobs of the total headcount of 23,800.
CEO Enrique Lores conveyed his intentions of investing more in “AI adoption and automation” in a meeting with investors that same month, while cutting “duplication and layers from our organisational structure,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
According to the real-time layoff-tracking website Layoffs.fyi, 129,488 tech employees have been laid off across nearly 300 tech companies this year, as of this week. In addition to job cuts at PayPal, the SF Bay Area layoff wave also hit Uber, impacting thousands of roles earlier this week. Hundreds of jobs were also impacted at Amazon and Apple’s offices in the area recently, as companies shift their focus to artificial intelligence.