'Organisational change': Oracle layoffs begin as employees receive 6 am role eliminations emails

Oracle has started another round of layoffs, with some employees receiving emails early in the morning informing them that their roles had been eliminated, according to a Business Insider report.

The latest job cuts began on Monday, with affected employees also sharing news of their layoffs on LinkedIn, Reddit and Blind. Oracle has not disclosed how many workers have been affected.

According to the internal notification cited in the report, employees were told their positions had been eliminated as part of a “broader organisational change". The notification also marked their final working day.

The layoffs come as Oracle is ramping up spending on data centres and infrastructure to keep pace with growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud services.

Oracle pours billions into AI infrastructure

Oracle spent $28.5 billion on capital expenditure in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, more than three times the $8.5 billion spent during the same period a year earlier.

The company has maintained its full-year capital expenditure projection of $90 billion to $95 billion as it expands its data-centre capacity and AI infrastructure.

Demand for its AI cloud services has also risen sharply. Oracle said it signed more than $30 billion in additional AI cloud contracts during the quarter, pushing its total remaining performance obligations—the value of contracted revenue yet to be recognised—to $664 billion.

Higher spending puts pressure on finances

The infrastructure push has also weighed on Oracle's cash position. The company reported negative free cash flow of $5.4 billion for the quarter.

At the same time, first-quarter revenue rose 30 per cent year-on-year to $19.3 billion. Cloud infrastructure revenue increased 121 per cent to $7.4 billion.

The latest workforce cuts follow a much larger reduction during fiscal 2026, when Oracle's global headcount fell by around 21,000, or 13 per cent. The company had about 141,000 employees at the end of May, compared with roughly 162,000 a year earlier.

Restructuring costs continue to rise

Oracle spent about $1.84 billion on severance and other exit costs linked to restructuring in fiscal 2026, compared with $374 million the previous year.

The company has also raised its expected restructuring costs by around $700 million, taking the estimated total to about $2.8 billion. The programme covers severance, contract termination fees and other exit expenses.

By August 31, Oracle had recorded around $2.1 billion in restructuring charges and said further actions were expected. The disclosure came shortly before the latest layoffs began.