Financial software company Intuit is laying off 1,800 workers across North America, many in San Diego, as it plans to invest more in artificial intelligence.
At the same time, the company said it plans to hire more workers next year that will bolster its AI-driven strategy.
San Diego houses one of Intuit’s best known services, TurboTax, its consumer income tax software. Intuit acquired San Diego’s TurboTax in 1993 for $225 million.
Intuit is cutting 215 San Diego-based and remote jobs at 7535 Torrey Santa Fe Road. The local jobs will be eliminated beginning September 9 and continuing through next year, according to Intuit’s WARN notice filed with the state.
Intuit owns the 11.2-acre campus located in the Del Mar Heights/Carmel Valley area, according to real estate tracker CoStar. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company bought the 466,000 square foot multi-building property for $262.3 million in 2016 from Kilroy Realty.
In a company-wide email on July 10, Intuit’s CEO Sasan Goodarzi said “this is truly an extraordinary time — AI is igniting global innovation at an incredible pace, transforming every industry and company in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Companies that aren’t prepared to take advantage of this AI revolution will fall behind and, over time, will no longer exist.”
He continued that in order for Intuit to increase its investment in key growth areas, such as AI, company leaders have decided to terminate about 10 percent of Intuit’s workforce.
Later in the letter, he explains that about 1,050 employees were let go for “not meeting expectations,” a number of executive roles were eliminated and about 80 technology roles were consolidated to a few select sites.
“We do not do layoffs to cut costs, and that remains true in this case,” Goodarzi said. “The changes we are making today enable us to allocate additional investments to our most critical areas to support our customers and drive growth.”
Laid off employees will receive at least 16 weeks of pay, six months of health insurance and job transition assistance, the letter says. The workforce reduction will cost Intuit $250 million to $260 million during the fiscal fourth quarter, which ends this month.
In the letter, Goodarzi breaks down Intuit’s artificial intelligence strategy into “Big Bets” that aim to speed up the workflow of its products, use data to connect customers with the “right” financial experts and use AI to power its business focused services.
“For example, (artificial intelligence) is helping experts with AI-supported answers and explanations, and matching and routing customers to the right expert at the right time, tailoring customer-specific needs to expert profiles and availability,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
Intuit did not respond to the Union-Tribune’s questions Monday regarding what kind of roles were cut in San Diego and how many workers are based here.
Goodarzi said that Intuit plans to increase its headcount next year to support its pivot to employing artificial intelligence in its products. Intuit plans to hire about 1,800 new workers “primarily in engineering, product, and customer facing roles such as sales, customer success, and marketing,” he said.
Intuit employed about 18,200 employees globally, as of July 31, 2023.
In 2023, Intuit reported $14.4 billion in revenue and generated $2.4 billion in profits. The firm’s second largest revenue source was its consumer segment – based in San Diego – which contributed $4.1 billion.
In addition to layoffs, Intuit will close two sites in Boise, Idaho, and Edmonton, Canada.
