BRUSSELS - EBay Inc is restructuring its operations worldwide which will lead to a small cut in global staffing levels but with some countries hit harder than others, a company spokeswoman said.
"It's less than 1 per cent globally," Sravanthi Agrawal told Reuters, adding the main regions andcountries affected by the online auctioneer's job cuts were the United States, Canada, Belgium, Spain and Austria.
"We shared the news with the employees internally," she said, adding the company had not yet made an announcement to the media. "It's a globalisation and centralisation effort."
EBay's restructuring was aimed at refocusing on its core business, Agrawal said.
EBay, which has a total staff of over 15,000 in 39 countries, warned in January that 2008 results would fall below Wall Street expectations, sending its stock down and confirmed long-serving Chief Executive Meg Whitman would step aside.
The forecast accompanied solid fourth-quarter results, and analysts said at the time it was unclear if the company feared an economic slowdown or whether management was giving itself room to make changes to revitalise the business.
EBay said 2008 net earnings, excluding one-time items and option expenses, would be US$1.63 to US$1.67 per diluted share - at or below the US$1.67 average analyst forecast.
A spokeswoman for EBay Germany said there will be no job cuts in the country as part of the restructuring. The company has 1100 employees near Berlin.
EBay shares in New York were up 2.2 per cent at US$28.07 at 1505 GMT when the Nasdaq index of technology stocks was up 0.9 per cent.
