eBay lays off 1000 workers, buys Bill Me Later

by Brad Linder Oct 6th 2008

What's the first thing you do after you layoff 10 percent of your workforce? You go on a buying spree, right? That's what eBay appears to be doing anyway. The company, which currently employs about 15,000 people plans to layoff about 1,000 full time workers as well as a number of temporary employees. At the same time, eBay has announced it will spend over $1.3 billion to buy two companies.

First up, eBay will buy Danish competitor DBA for more than $380 million. But the big news for folks who don't live in Denmark is the $945 million the company is spending to purchase Bill Me Later, a company which allows web sites to perform instant credit checks based on your birth date and last four digits of your social security number allowing online retailers to extend you instant credit and send you a bill later.

Bill Me Later's technology will be used to complement eBay's existing PayPal online payment system.

There's no question that eBay needed to do something to deal with increasing competition from Amazon Marketplace and other online stores/auction houses. But I have to say, if I were one of the 1,000+ people getting laid off, I wouldn't be to happy to see my former employer spending this kind of cash on acquiring new properties.

Tags: bill-me-later, dba, ebay, paypal

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kriscolumbus said 3:33PM on 10-06-2008

I agree with you. Although it's an investment, it doesn't seem moral. Employees are also something to invest in, and I don't think spending a billion dollars on Bill Me Later will be worthwhile.

Mike said 5:10PM on 10-06-2008

Meh- those are two completely separate issues...

I'm tired of the bellyaching about layoffs, especially if the company needs to trim fat.

As for the acquisition, yes, it seems like an inflated price regardless of the fact.

Racetrack_Owner said 6:15PM on 10-06-2008

And this has what to do with downloads, again?

SleepingPanda said 11:01PM on 10-06-2008

That's just what I was thinking.

Kevin said 8:30AM on 10-07-2008

Doesn't using BillMeLater hurt your credit score? Isn't it just a small line of credit you're opening? Seems pretty ridiculous.

Ken said 7:37AM on 10-10-2008

This is stupid and for people that are to lazy to put in their credit card number. I really hate Ebay with a passion to and would not contribute a dime to their revenue stream. Plus I am sure I would not get any rewards for using this service. I would much rather slap down my No Hassle Card.

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters