Oracle is entering the final stage of its biggest workforce reduction on record, with thousands of employees expected to leave between June 1 and June 15 as part of a global restructuring that could affect about 30,000 workers, or roughly 18% of its workforce. The cuts come despite Oracle’s strong recent performance, including double-digit revenue growth, rising cloud demand, and rapid expansion in its artificial intelligence businesses.
The company has said the reorganization is part of a broader shift toward AI infrastructure and data center expansion. Oracle has committed about $50 billion in capital spending for fiscal 2026, much of it aimed at AI-related projects. It is also involved in Stargate, the AI infrastructure venture backed by OpenAI and SoftBank, as demand for computing capacity continues to increase across the technology sector.
Oracle’s latest financial results highlighted that momentum. Revenue rose 22% year over year to $17.2 billion, while cloud revenue increased 44% to $8.9 billion. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s AI business grew 243%, and multicloud database revenue surged 531%. GAAP net income reached $3.7 billion. The company also reported $553 billion in remaining performance obligations, up 325% from a year earlier, signaling strong demand for long-term cloud and AI contracts.
As the final separation dates approach, affected employees are reviewing severance terms and deciding whether to accept compensation packages. Oracle reportedly offered severance based on tenure, beginning with four weeks of base salary for the first year of employment and adding one more week for each additional year, up to 26 weeks. Employees must sign legal releases waiving claims against the company to receive the benefits. Some departing workers have raised concerns about stock compensation, saying Oracle did not accelerate vesting of restricted stock units, which means unvested awards will be lost when employment ends.
A group of laid-off employees reportedly petitioned for better terms, arguing that Oracle’s package was less generous than offers made by other major technology companies. At least 90 former employees signed the petition, seeking improved health coverage and better treatment of equity awards. Oracle kept its existing severance structure in place.
The largest cuts reportedly hit Oracle Health, the division created after Oracle’s $28.3 billion acquisition of Cerner. Tech Times estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 employees in that unit were affected. The reduction has drawn attention because Oracle Health supports major healthcare providers and government programs, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ electronic health record modernization effort.
The layoffs have also prompted questions about Oracle’s use of the WARN Act notice process and the timing of H-1B visa filings. According to the report, affected employees received 60 days of paid administrative leave before termination dates, and the company filed thousands of H-1B petitions across fiscal years 2025 and 2026. With the final departures nearing completion, Oracle’s restructuring now stands as one of the technology industry’s largest layoffs, centered on a major bet that AI and cloud investments will deliver future growth.
