By Kelly Cloonan
Cars.com is reducing its full-time workforce by about 11% as part of a push to cut costs as it focuses more on artificial intelligence.
The company, which offers a platform to buy and sell cars, said Thursday the changes are part of its efforts to focus more on its AI-powered products. Cars.com recently rolled out a slate of new AI products, including an AI-powered mobile assistant that provides analytics and recommendations aimed at driving dealers' sales.
"Simplifying our business also provides more bandwidth to dedicate to key products, like AI, data and analytics, that we believe are critical to the future of automotive retail," Chief Executive Tobi Hartmann said.
About 20% of the eliminated roles are within management layers, including two executive roles, in an effort to accelerate decision making, the company said. Cars.com had about 1,700 full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary employees as of the end of last year, according to its latest annual filing.
A number of companies have cited AI when cutting jobs in recent months, often pointing to efficiency gains created by the technology. Payments company Block, for example, said earlier this year it would slash 40% of its workforce, citing rapidly improving AI models. Other companies like Salesforce, Atlassian and Pinterest have similarly cited AI during recent job cuts.
Cars.com's cost-cutting plan also includes process changes and vendor cost optimization. The company forecasts the plan will lead to $25 million to $30 million in recurring annualized operating cost savings.
The company expects the actions under the plan will be completed by early in the second quarter and result in aggregate one-time charges of $8.5 million to $9 million, mostly recognized in the first quarter.
Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 09, 2026 17:18 ET (21:18 GMT)
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