EBay CEO announces layoffs but endorses strategy; EA shares detailed memo amid BioWare studio closure
Plus, a new report reveals declining trust at work.
Greetings, comms pros! Let’s take a look at a few news stories from the last week and see what we can learn from them.
1. EBay CEO says company strategy is “working,” announces 9% layoffs
Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, told the company’s employees that the commerce giant is cutting 9% of jobs. In a memo obtained by Reuters, Iannone said the company’s, “strategy is working.” This move is eBay’s second set of layoffs this year.
“Continuing to capture the significant opportunity ahead requires us to make thoughtful choices about where we focus and invest,” Iannone wrote in the memo.
Iannone is clear that the strategy the company has laid out is working and frames the cuts as part of deciding where to focus and invest. That’s transparent, but it also gives employees no sense of when cuts might stop. Seeing as it’s eBay’s second set of layoffs in 2026, it would be natural for employees to wonder if rolling layoffs might be a part of their future. In these type of situations, leaders need to be ready to plainly state what their vision for the company is and how remaining employees figure into that vision. That can go a long way toward battling attrition during layoffs.
- Electronic Arts CEO announces closure of BioWare studio, layoffs off nearly 400 employees
Major video game studio Electronic Arts is closing its BioWare studio, the creative force behind games like Mass Effect, and cutting about 3% of its workforce. In an internal memo from president and chief studios officer Cam Weber and David Tinson, president and chief operating officer, obtained by Variety, the leaders outlined a detailed vision for the company’s video game properties going forward and how staffing will shift.
The decisions we’re making in our priorities, how we work, and with our portfolio reflect our belief in EA’s future. Some open exciting new possibilities. Others are difficult, especially for the people and teams across the company who are directly affected. In those cases, we will support impacted employees in exploring other opportunities within EA, and we’re committed to treating impacted colleagues with care and respect.
We’re sure there will be questions about what these changes mean for individual teams and for EA more broadly. You can speak directly with your leaders to hear more on that, and we’ll make sure to spend time discussing our direction and the work ahead at our next Global Town Hall in November.
Weber and Tinson’s memo lays out the company’s plans in great detail, but what the changes mean for individual teams gets deferred to managers. In addition, the company-wide conversation about all the changes won’t take place until November. It’s an understandable choice in an already long memo. When a message needs managers to help provide more context and detail, it’s on communicators to get in touch with managers ahead of time to ensure that talking points are aligned. FAQ documents can be a great resource to help make this happen effectively.
3. Report: Employee trust in coworkers falling
According to Edelman’s 2026 Trust at Work report, employee trust in their coworkers dropped from 82% in 2024 to 73% in 2026. Trust in direct managers slid from 79% to 72% over the same period. In addition, trust in CEOs fell from 70% to 66%. In a note that shared the findings, CEO Richard Edelman wrote about what could solve this trend of declining trust:
Business has been on a great run as the most trusted institution. But transformation is the hinge point, the litmus test. If transformation goes poorly, it will go back to all the bad things once assumed about business — profits over people, employees are just numbers, and the like. That’s why this moment is crucial: It’s the central business leadership challenge of our moment. It can drive a wedge in your organization or accelerate its growth. To succeed, truth well told, commitment to reskilling, employee agency and empathetic leadership must be the game plan.
Trust is the factor that underpins all the authority of internal comms, so findings like these are bound to perk up some ears. But there are ways for internal communicators to shore up trust to reverse these trends. For instance, when a change is coming, share news with whole teams at once instead of letting it travel person to person. In addition, set aside time for teams to ask questions together so everyone is working from the same answers.
4. How about some good news?
- Coconut oil is showing promise as a sustainable jet fuel.
- A dog that was lost in Yellowstone National Park for a month was found safe.
- Japan launched a mission to Phobos, a moon of Mars, to retrieve soil samples.
- Ragan Training is an excellent place for communications professionals to find inspiration and valuable resources.
- You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!
Sean Devlin is the senior internal communications editor at Ragan. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.
