Oracle layoffs: Managers asked to pick employees to 'fire' before September 1
Oracle is planning fresh layoffs this month, with managers reportedly asked to identify employees whose roles will go before its second fiscal quarter opens on September 1. Some teams face double-digit percentage cuts. The move follows a year in which Oracle eliminated 21,000 jobs, spent $1.8 billion on restructuring, and poured $55.7 billion into AI data centres.
Oracle is set to execute another round of layoffs before September 1, as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts. The company aims to reduce its payroll before the start of its fiscal second quarter. According to Business Insider, certain teams could face cuts of up to double-digit percentages. This move is on top of a year where the company had already eliminated around 21,000 full-time roles, which constituted approximately 13% of its workforce.
The company's headcount fell from 162,000 in May 2025 to 141,000 by the end of May 2026, with roughly 49,000 employees remaining in the United States. Oracle attributes part of this decline to its adoption and deployment of AI technology, which it is investing in to sell. The layoffs were announced via emails sent to employees on March 31, informing them that their roles had been eliminated as part of a broader organizational change.
The notification provided information about severance paperwork, which would be sent via DocuSign, and requested employees to provide a personal email address for access to their computer, email, and files to be switched off. Oracle has spent nearly all of its $2.1 billion restructuring budget, with $1.8 billion in restructuring costs booked in FY2026, up from $374 million the previous year.
The company expects the total cost of the plan to be around $2.1 billion, leaving limited headroom. If the described cuts materialize, Oracle may have to implement a second restructuring plan in just three years. Oracle's spending on AI data centers, which reached $55.7 billion in FY2026, is also placing pressure on headcount. The company raised $43 billion in debt and $5 billion in equity in FY2026, expects to raise around $40 billion more in FY2027, and ran a negative $23.7 billion in free cash flow.
Despite robust revenue growth, Oracle's stock has dropped more than 20% this year, and shareholders have sued the company over its disclosures regarding its $300 billion OpenAI commitment.
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