PayPal has announced it is cutting around 2,500 jobs across the business.

In a letter to staff, the online payment giant's chief executive Alex Chriss said that it would be axing nine per cent of its workforce.

Chriss said that the cuts are part of the company's plans to “right-size” the business and allow it to move with the speed needed to drive profitable growth.

"Specifically, across our organisation, we need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication," the chief exec told staff. "We have started on that journey, but there is a lot of work to do – and 2024 marks a year of change, including some difficult but necessary decisions to get us to where we need to go."

PayPal said it would make direct reductions and the elimination of open roles over the course of the year.

The move comes as PayPal faces tough competition from digital payments rivals like Zelle and Apple.

PayPal made similar cuts at the beginning of 2023, when the company had missed analyst expectations on earnings and revenue.

Staff impacted by the cuts will be notified by the end of the week.

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