Oracle Confirms Major Layoffs, Citing AI Adoption and Restructuring

In March this year, Oracle confirmed that thousands of employees received emails from ‘Oracle leadership’ at 6AM informing them that their roles had been eliminated. Oracle has begun laying off employees across its global offices, with workers in US, India, and other regions reporting termination emails landing in their inboxes as early as 6AM EST. The message read: “We have made the decision to eliminate your role as…” — marking one of the largest workforce reductions in the company’s history. As reported by Reuters, According to Oracle’s annual report released on June 22, the company’s total workforce fell 13% in fiscal 2026, dropping to 141,000 employees from 162,000 a year earlier. The restructuring cost Oracle $1.84 billion in severance and exit expenses, a sharp increase from $374 million the previous year.

Reasons behind the cuts

Oracle said the workforce adjustments were driven by management and product changes, performance issues, acquisitions and strategic shifts — particularly the adoption of AI across its operations. The layoffs follow months of reports about Oracle cutting thousands of jobs as part of its restructuring.

Oracle offered four weeks of base salary for the first year of employment

For US employees, Oracle offered four weeks of base salary for the first year of employment, plus one additional week for every year after that, up to a maximum of 26 weeks. To qualify for a full year in the calculation, employees must have worked at least six months in their last year. The payout will also be adjusted in states with a WARN notice period. It's a noticeably thinner package than what other tech companies have put on the table recently. Block, which cut nearly half its workforce last week, offered 20 weeks of salary plus one week per year of tenure, six months of healthcare, and a $5,000 stipend. Meta's 2025 severance included 16 weeks of pay plus two weeks per year of service, along with six months of health insurance. Oracle's offer doesn't appear to include any healthcare continuation or additional perks. In India, the severance is expected to follow the standard N+2 formula—N being the number of years worked, paid out in months. Unvested RSUs, however, are forfeited entirely.

AI disruption and job losses

These job cuts come amid the increasing concerns about jobs cuts driven by AI. According to the data by Layoffs.fyi, 2026 has witnessed layoffs from 196 tech companies. The jobs cuts have affected more than 119,800 employees. Oracle, a smaller player in cloud computing compared to rivals like Amazon and Microsoft, has recently signed massive data-center deals with OpenAI and Meta to compete more aggressively. Unlike its larger rivals, Oracle has relied on burning cash and issuing debt to fund its expansion. Shares of the company are down about 10% this year. Oracle expects net capital expenditure of around $70 billion in the current fiscal year, financed by raising $40 billion in debt and equity, including a previously announced $20 billion stock issuance.