Oracle layoffs are back on the table this month as the company draws up a new round of job cuts to reduce payroll while it keeps spending heavily on AI infrastructure. The plan is aimed at bringing payroll down before the second quarter begins on Sept. 1.
Managers have been asked to provide lists of affected employees, and some teams could face double-digit percentage cuts. Oracle already ended its 2026 fiscal year with about 141,000 employees, down 21,000, or 13%, from the year before.
Oracle and Larry Ellison
Earlier in March, Larry Ellison said on an earnings call that he believes the so-called SaaSpocalypse will be a problem for other companies, but not his. Oracle’s latest workforce move lands after that statement and after a year in which the company continued to expand data-center and chip spending to meet AI demand.
The company spent $55.7 billion on infrastructure, including new data centers, in its 2026 fiscal year. It also spent $23.7 billion more in cash than it brought in, showing how much capital the buildout has required.
Oracle Workforce and AI Spending
Oracle raised $43 billion through debt in the 2026 fiscal year and $5 billion from stock sales. It expects to raise about another $40 billion through a mix of debt and stock in its current fiscal year.
That spending sits alongside stronger operating results: revenue rose 17% in Oracle’s latest fiscal year, and its cloud infrastructure business grew 77% as demand for computing power to run AI surged. At the same time, Oracle’s stock is down nearly 26% this year.
The practical question for workers is the size of the new round. Oracle has not put a number on it in the facts available here, but the company has already signaled that the cuts may be deep on some teams and that payroll reduction comes first. By Sept. 1, the count that matters is whether the company has pushed payroll lower before the new quarter starts.
