CarOffer, an automotive wholesale technology company acquired by CarGurus less than two years ago, plans to lay off 101 employees at its Dallas County operations this fall, according to a notice filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.
The WARN database lists the notice date as August 13 and the layoff date as October 6 for the company’s Addison location.
The Workforce Commission website states, “Under certain circumstances, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires businesses to provide notice 60 days in advance of plant closures or mass layoffs. The WARN Act is intended to offer protection to workers, their families and communities.”
CarOffer’s website lists no recent blog or news updates for almost a year, its careers page returns an error, and the company’s “Who We Are” section notes that “our team has driven CarOffer to be the leading platform for instant buying, selling, & trading in the automotive industry. Our employees and the values they each embody has been an integral part of our success and we couldn’t do it without every one of them.”
Founded in 2019, CarOffer was initially backed by its BuyingMatrix™ technology for automated dealer inventory acquisition. The company’s timeline notes that CarGurus bought a 51% stake in January 2021 and completed the purchase of the remaining shares in December 2023, “providing the resources to take CarOffer to the next level.”
The layoffs come amid what one Texas Standard report called a broader contraction in the state’s once-booming tech sector. “From promise to pullback: Texas’ tech sector faces hiring declines,” the outlet reported in June, citing The Wall Street Journal data showing that tech and startup employment in Dallas, Austin, and Houston has fallen while coastal hubs such as San Francisco and New York have seen gains.
Isabelle Bousquette, a technology reporter quoted in the Texas Standard piece, said, “these regional cities across the U.S. are being a little harder hit than the coasts like New York, San Francisco. And Austin in particular is one of the hardest hit.” She pointed to layoffs at companies that had recently moved to Texas, fewer opportunities for laid-off tech workers compared to other regions, rising housing costs, and return-to-office mandates pulling remote workers back to other states.
It is not yet clear whether CarOffer’s layoffs are part of broader restructuring plans at CarGurus, which did not respond to a request for comment.