French online payments company Worldline plans to cut its workforce by 8% worldwide.

French online payments specialist Worldline is considering job cuts that would affect up to 8% of its 18,000 employees worldwide, or more than 1,400 positions, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.

Of the 4,000 employees in France, the cuts could affect 330, a union spokesman told the CFTC. Worldline was unwilling to confirm that figure, but said it wanted to “allow voluntary departures where possible.”

The move is part of a wider plan announced in October, called Power24, which aims to “accelerate the group’s transformation in response to macroeconomic changes” in the digital payments sector, according to the company. The plan is expected to cost up to 250 million euros, but could result in savings of “in the order of 200 million euros in 2025 with increased capacity in 2024”, she said.

“Simplifying the organization,” which will reduce headcount, has the specific goal, according to Worldline, of “reducing the complexity” of its operations “so that managers increase their control and so that teams become more autonomous.” Another part of this plan is to strengthen the company’s modernization and offer new payment services, in particular through a partnership established in mid-January with Google.

“It’s pretty disgusting because the company is doing well,” a CFTC union official said on condition of anonymity. “None of this makes much sense. »

Stock market beating

At the end of January, Crédit Agricole announced its entry as a “long-term minority shareholder” into the capital of Worldline, which had suffered months of stock market shocks. The bank acquired a 7% stake.

Investors, who often compare Worldline to a technology company, took advantage of the sector’s frenzy in 2020 and saw its market value double in about ten months.

The online payments specialist then took advantage of this prosperous period to buy Ingenico, the global leader in the payment terminal market, for €7.8 billion.

Output CAC 40

But since then, rising interest rates, dwindling cash flows, some spectacular crises and difficulties in Germany – an important market for the company – have led to a fall in prices for the former Atos subsidiary, independent since 2019. inherited from Ingenico, were also sold in 2022 to the Apollo fund for 2.3 billion euros.

Last October, Worldline shares lost almost 60% in one day after revising its annual targets downward. The company was excluded from the CAC 40 in early December, when rumors were already circulating that Crédit Agricole was coming to the rescue.

A year and a half ago, the payments specialist experienced the first strike in France in 12 years. This social mobilization lasted four months before employees secured a wage increase of approximately €100 per month for the lowest 75% of employees. “In 2022, it was anger. We were disappointed in 2024,” summed up the same trade union delegate.