Asia Tech Wire (Oct 30) -- Visa Inc. plans to lay off about 1,400 employees and contractors by the end of this year, as part of a plan to streamline its international operations, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter.

About 1,000 technology jobs will be cut, with most of the rest focused on sales and global digital partnership positions, the people said.

Visa employs more than 30,000 people globally, and some of the layoffs will be focused on contractors in the engineering team, and it's unclear how many of the affected employees are non-employees.

A Visa spokesperson said the company continues to evolve to better serve customers and support growth, "which can lead to the elimination of some roles."

The spokesperson said the company expects to hire more employees each year for the foreseeable future.