Carsome next to make layoffs

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Carsome is undergoing an "employee base optimisation" exercise which will see a certain number of employees being laid off. The executive team is also forgoing their salaries for the remainder of 2022 to help contribute to an ex gratia payment for departing team members.

A+M understands that less than 10% of employees are impacted. Affected employees will receive their full severance package and extended health benefits until the end of the year, together with support on their job search.

With the employee base optimisation, Carsome will focus on improving productivity across the business, aligning resources with contributions to the bottom line, and enforcing stricter performance management. Additionally, the company is also accelerating its integration with the newly-acquired iCar and WapCar ecosystem of companies, as well as the automation of processes to further increase group efficiency. These plans are crucial to continuously enable Carsome to adapt to customers' changing needs, especially in light of macroeconomic challenges.

Last year, Carsome cemented its unicorn status with the US$200 million acquisition of iCar Asia. A year later in July this year, it expanded its regional headquarters in Malaysia and was also previously on the hunt for roles including PR, content marketing, and trade marketing. However, like many companies these days, Carsome is not immune to macroeconomic headwinds.

That said, the company is still pushing forth with its marketing efforts featuring brand ambassador and football legend Eric Cantona. Cantona is actively involved in Carsome's promotional activities in 2022 as well as group-wide advertising campaigns in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.