Cox Automotive of Atlanta, Georgia, the parent company of Dealer.com, recently implemented a cost cutting program that will result in approximately 950 layoffs. This will be the first time in the 20-year history that the Burlington, Vermont company, Dealer.com will lay off 45 people. What makes this notable is that Dealer.com was a unicorn, a company selling for $1 billion to Dealertrack in March 2014, and the combined company was subsequently acquired by Cox Automotive in October 2015 for $4.2 billion.
A company spokesperson was quoted as saying, "Cox is 'right-sizing' after the 'very significant' acquisition of Dealertrack. The employees affected by the layoffs range from veteran workers with 10 to 12 years of experience to people who started in the past year or two.”
Although Cox appears to be committed to maintain the Burlington Office (approximately 1200 jobs), one can only wonder if the operation will be re-consolidated with its parent in the future to eliminate duplicative infrastructure costs.