Software maker Oracle has started telling employees that it’s conducting a round of layoffs, two people familiar with the move told CNBC.
The layoffs were in the thousands, said the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss a confidential matter.
As of May 2025, the company employed 162,000 people.
Shares of Oracle have come down 27% so far this year as investors ponder competitive risk from generative artificial intelligence models, as well as the effect of infrastructure investments on Oracle’s cash flow.
Oracle declined to comment.
While continuing to push its flagship database for storing and serving up corporate information, Oracle has ratcheted up its capital expenditures as it builds data center infrastructure that can handle AI workloads.
In September, Oracle disclosed that its remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue that has not yet been recognized, jumped 359% to $455 billion following an agreement with OpenAI worth over $300 billion. Weeks later, Oracle picked executives Mike Sicilia and Clay Magouyrk to replace its CEO, Safra Catz.
Oracle has been leaning on the debt market to funds its buildout. In January, Oracle announced plans to raise $50 billion in debt and equity. During earnings last month, Oracle executives said there were no more plans to raise debt in 2026.
Cutting 20,000 to 30,000 employees could lead to $8 billion to $10 billion in incremental free cash flow, TD Cowen analysts led by Michael Elias wrote in a January note.
Executives have said its AI investment will pay off, over time. “Demand for AI infrastructure, both GPU and CPU, continues to exceed supply. This is directly visible in our $553 billion remaining performance obligations,” Magouyrk said on an earnings call.
Business Insider reported on the layoff announcements earlier on Tuesday.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/31/oracle-layoffs-ai-spending.html
