Contentinople - Erin Barker - News Bits: Layoffs, Acquisitions at eBay

Written by Erin Barker

Monday, October 6. 2008 at 11:45 AM EDT Post a comment

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eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), as expected, laid off 10 percent of its workforce today. But the company also -- surprise! -- acquired online payment company Bill Me Later for $820 million in cash and $125 million in outstanding options, as well as a Danish classifieds company.

"Simply put, eBay is doubling down on Bill Me Later -- a company that depends on evaluating credit risks -- during a credit crunch," said Larry Dignan at ZDNet's Between the Lines. But combining Bill Me Later with eBay's already-owned PayPal could make eBay the "Visa or Mastercard of online payments," Dignan says.

The Silicon Alley Insider called the layoffs of the 1,000 eBay employees "long overdue," and said that "unless the company can rapidly begin to reaccelerate gross merchandise sales, moreover, more cuts should follow."

In other news:

On Friday, Gawker Media also faced layoffs, as boss Nick Denton has cut 19 of 133 editorial positions -- including 60 percent of the ValleyWag staff. "You can guess the reason for these brutal measures: the recession," said Denton in a memo.

And now for some much funnier news: As celebrity get-out-the-vote ads hit YouTube Inc. by the hundreds, NewTeeVee has ranked the five worst, starting with P. Diddy's Blair Witch Project-esque anti-Palin video. A couple of the videos on the list -- such as Sarah Silverman's "The Great Schlep," in which she urges you to tell your Bubbie in Florida to vote Obama -- weren't too bad, but their No. 1 worst video features Jessica Alba and Hayden Panettiere in some kind of Hannibal Lecter mask. As alluring as this might sound to you, I have to agree with NewTeeVee that "this one is definitely the worst." Enjoy!

Tags: Acquistions, Video

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