C.H. Robinson Says the AI Selloff Missed the Point
Investors feared disruption. The company says scale wins
On Feb. 12, shares of C.H. Robinson fell about 14.5% in a single day, their sharpest drop in roughly two years.
The decline followed comments from Algorhythm Holdings Inc that its SemiCab platform allows customers to scale freight volumes by 300% to 400% without adding staff, according to Reuters. Transportation and logistics stocks also moved lower as investors questioned whether new AI systems could disrupt traditional freight brokers.
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Freight brokers match companies that need goods shipped with trucking carriers that move those goods. If software can handle that matching and pricing work on its own, the role of the broker could change.
Dave Bozeman, chief executive of C.H. Robinson, rejected the idea that artificial intelligence threatens the company’s position. In an interview, he called the selloff a “short-term reaction” and said AI will likely lead to consolidation in freight brokerage, not remove large companies from the market. Smaller firms, he said, may struggle in an environment that requires large data sets and deep industry knowledge.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Bozeman described an internal push to automate routine work. C.H. Robinson has built more than 30 AI “agents” to handle tasks such as quoting and back-office processing. A quoting system that once covered about 60% of requests and took minutes to respond now handles 100% of them, 24 hours a day, in roughly 32 seconds. Bozeman said those changes have driven a 40% productivity improvement and helped the company outperform the broader freight market for eight straight quarters.
Bozeman described the company as a “builder, not a buyer” of technology, saying internal engineering gives it more control over how tools are developed and deployed. He said C.H. Robinson serves roughly 75,000 customers globally, and that the scale of its data strengthens its systems over time.
Algorhythm’s statement about scaling freight without adding staff focused attention on the economics of brokerage. If a platform can move more loads with the same number of people, costs per shipment could fall.
Investors were reacting to the possibility that software could handle work traditionally done by brokers.
Bozeman told Reuters that C.H. Robinson’s scale and proprietary data give it an advantage that is “difficult and costly for rivals to replicate.” He said the company plans to move further into what he called “agentic artificial intelligence” to make its operations “faster and even better”.
According to Bozeman, the company’s focus is on removing routine work so employees can spend more time solving complex problems for customers. Some entry-level processes have been eliminated or redesigned, he said, allowing staff to shift toward higher-value work.
C.H. Robinson remains profitable. For 2025, it reported about $16.23 billion in revenue and net income of roughly $587 million, according to Reuters financial data.
In late January, the company reported fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates. Reuters said the results were helped in part by AI-driven efficiencies that streamlined operations and reduced manual processes. Adjusted income from operations in the fourth quarter was about $197 million, up about 7% from the prior year, even as revenue declined modestly.
Earlier in 2025, C.H. Robinson reduced average employee headcount by more than 10% in the third quarter, which helped cut costs and lift profit.
Freight demand remains uneven. In the Bloomberg interview, Bozeman said he is watching housing and retail activity closely and has not yet seen the improvement he would like from housing. He said a pickup in manufacturing could support freight volumes over time.
There are no public reports showing major customers leaving C.H. Robinson for AI-native competitors. The company continues to generate billions in revenue and hundreds of millions in profit while expanding its use of automation.
The stock drop in February followed bold claims from a newer AI platform, even as the company’s earnings reports show a large broker that is cutting costs, automating tasks and staying profitable in a soft market.