eBay lays off 1000 workers, buys Bill Me Later

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