Oracle cut 21,000 employees over the past year as it reorganized around artificial intelligence (AI). Bloomberg said on the 22nd local time that Oracle's layoffs were larger than the market had known and that some roles were reduced or disappeared with the introduction of AI.
In an annual report released that day, Oracle said, "As we introduce and use AI technology across all institutional sectors, workforce reductions have occurred and may continue." As of the fiscal year that ended May 31, Oracle had 141,000 full-time employees—49,000 in the United States and 92,000 overseas. That is about a 13% decrease from 162,000 a year earlier. During this process, restructuring expenses, including severance and business reorganization expense, swelled to about $1.84 billion.
A heavy investment burden tied to rising demand for AI cloud also sits behind the layoffs. Oracle is rapidly expanding AI data centers and cloud infrastructure to target large customers such as OpenAI and Meta. The company's 2026 fiscal year revenue hit a record $67.4 billion, and cloud revenue also rose to $34 billion, but infrastructure investment is said to be increasing cash flow and financial burdens.
Oracle's headcount has slipped slightly below the level before it acquired electronic medical record company Cerner in 2022. The Cerner acquisition temporarily added thousands of employees at the time, but as the AI- and cloud-centered reorganization gained momentum, the workforce has been reduced again.