Oracle employees received 6 AM email: 'Today is your last day at work'

On Monday morning, Oracle employees in the United States received an early 6 a.m. email announcing that their positions were being eliminated as part of a major organizational change. The notification provided no transition period, making it their last day at work. According to Business Insider, which gathered information from an internal email and three affected workers, some employees lost access to company systems even before the official notice arrived.

Fewer details have emerged about how many workers were impacted and the company has not confirmed the number. The cuts are taking place in the US, with plans for further layoffs reportedly in the works. Severance packages offered to the affected employees included four weeks of base salary plus an additional week for each year of tenure at the company.

Reports indicate that some veteran employees, who had worked at Oracle for more than two decades, were among those receiving the termination notice. This latest wave of cuts follows a year in which Oracle's workforce contracted significantly, decreasing by about 21,000 employees or 13%. Despite the reduction in headcount, Oracle has been increasing its investments in cloud infrastructure and AI, spending approximately $28.5 billion on capital expenditures in the most recent quarter, up from about $8.5 billion a year ago.

Revenue for the current fiscal year is projected to increase by 30% to $19.3 billion, with cloud infrastructure revenue growing by 121% to $7.4 billion. The layoffs come amid the company's focus on expanding its data centers and computing infrastructure for AI, even as it reduces its workforce.