American technology major Oracle has confirmed that it has laid of about 21,000 employees, about 13% of its total workforce in fiscal 2026, fueled by rapid adoption of artificial intelligence across its operations.
Oracle's total workforce stood at 141,000 as of May 31, 2026, down from about 162,000 in the same period last year, the company said in its annual report released on Monday. The layoffs were part of the cloud computing giant's ongoing restructuring.
As per the filing, Oracle spent $1.84 billion in severance payments and other exit costs related to the restructuring activities in fiscal 2026, significantly higher than the $374 million spent in the previous fiscal year.
The workforce adjustments were in response to various factors, including management and product changes, performance issues, strategic shifts and acquisitions, Oracle said in its filing.
Oracle India layoffs
The layofffs also hit Oracle's India team with the company cutting about 10,000 jobs here, sources familiar with the matter had told ET in April. The cuts amount to roughly 20% of the Indian workforce, which is 50,000 strong.
The cuts also impacted Oracle Financial Software Services (OFSS), with about 1,000 jobs being cut in that unit or about 10% of its headcount, people in the know had told ET.
The decline in the workforce follows multiple reports earlier this year about Oracle cutting thousands of jobs.
Tech layoffs continue
Worries are quickly mounting over job losses due to AI disruption, as 196 tech companies laid off more than 119,800 employees so far this year, according to Layoffs. fyi, a website tracking sector-wide job cuts.
A smaller player in the cloud-computing industry for a long time, Oracle has in recent months signed massive data-center deals with OpenAI and Meta to compete more forcefully with rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft.
However, unlike these tech giants who fund their substantial outlays through large cash flows, Oracle has had to resort to burning cash and issuing debt. Shares of the company were down about 10% this year. Oracle said earlier this month that it expects net capital expenditure of around $70 billion in its current fiscal year. To fund that, it will raise another $40 billion in debt and equity, including a previously announced $20 billion stock issuance.
