EBay to slash 2,400 jobs amid weak holiday sales

Online marketplace EBay Inc. is slashing 2,400 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce, after a mixed holiday season and a lower-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter.

The job cuts will affect its Marketplaces and Enterprise businesses, as well as its online payment arm PayPal, EBay said Wednesday in its quarterly earnings report. The e-commerce company said it was exploring a sale or initial public offering of its Enterprise unit, which helps retailers improve their Internet presence.

“It has become clear that it has limited synergies” with EBay’s other businesses, the company said.

Also on Wednesday, EBay disclosed it had reached an agreement with activist shareholder Carl Icahn, who had urged the retailer for months to spin off PayPal. EBay vigorously fought the move before announcing in September that it was splitting the two businesses.

As part of the deal, the company is appointing Icahn Capital executive Jonathan Christodoro as a board member. Icahn will have the power to decide which board Christodoro will serve on after PayPal is carved off.

For the fourth quarter, net income climbed to $936 million, or 75 cents a share, up 10% from $850 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 9% to $4.9 billion.

EBay forecast revenue of $4.35 billion to $4.45 billion in the current quarter, falling below the estimates of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters who had predicted revenue of $4.7 billion.

EBay shares closed Wednesday at $53.38, down 30 cents, or 0.56%, before the announcements. In after-hours trading, shares jumped more than $1.

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