Oracle Sheds 21000 Employees While Ramping Up Ai Investments

Oracle’s total workforce declined 13 per cent, or about 21,000 employees, in fiscal 2026, as the cloud computing giant continued restructuring its business, partly driven by the adoption of AI across its operations.

The company had a total workforce of 141,000 as of May 31, 2026, compared with about 162,000 as of the same period last year, ⁠according to its annual report released on Monday.

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 filing showed.

It also ⁠said in its filing that the workforce adjustments were in response to various factors, including management ‌and product changes, performance issues, strategic shifts and acquisitions.

The decline in the workforce follows multiple reports earlier this year about Oracle cutting thousands of jobs. The company did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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 per cent 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.