PayPal is shedding around 2,000 jobs, or 7% of its workers, as it becomes the latest big tech firm to cut costs.

The online payments company says it was forced to make the decision as it faces "the challenging macro-economic environment."

PayPal's announcement follows tens of thousands of layoffs by technology giants in the last month alone.

This year, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft have announced major job cuts.

"We must continue to change as our world, our customers, and our competitive landscape evolve," PayPal's chief executive Dan Schulman said in a statement.

Also on Tuesday, Snap - the parent company of social media platform Snapchat - warned that revenue for the three months to the end of March could fall by as much as 10%.

"We anticipate that the operating environment will remain challenging, as we expect the headwinds we have faced over the past year to persist throughout Q1," the company told investors.

After the announcement Snap's shares fell by almost 15% in extended trade in New York.

What is behind the big tech companies' job cuts?
At the start of this year, Amazon announced it planned to cut more than 18,000 jobs because of "the uncertain economy" and rapid hiring during the pandemic.

Also this month, Alphabet said it would shed 12,000 jobs, while Microsoft said up to 10,000 employees would lose their jobs.

Last week, Swedish music-streaming giant Spotify said it would cut 6% of its about 10,000 employees, citing a need to improve efficiency.

In another sign of the technology industry slowdown US computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Tuesday reported a 98% fall in net income for the last three months of 2022.

The company also said it expects revenue to drop by as much 10% in the current quarter.

However, the figures were better than many investors had expected and AMD's shares rose after the announcement.

In Asia on Wednesday, the world's second-biggest memory chip maker SK Hynix posted its largest quarterly loss on record.

The South Korean company reported a worse-than-expected 1.7tn won ($1.4bn; £1.1bn) loss for the last three months of 2022, as sales fell by 38%.

The firm pointed to falling computer chip prices and joined rival technology giants as it warned that it expects an industry-wide downturn to worsen in the coming months, before recovering later in the year.

It came after rival Samsung Electronics on Tuesday reported its lowest quarterly profit in eight years.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1246 HRS, FEB 1, 2023
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