Oracle appears to be preparing for another major round of layoffs, with September 1 identified as a key date for employee communications. According to reports from Business Insider, the company has drawn up plans for another round of cuts, with managers asked to submit lists of affected employees before September 1, the first day of its second fiscal quarter. The layoffs are reportedly being delivered through 6 a.m. emails, following Oracle's established pattern of delivering bad news through cold organizational language rather than personal communications. This method mirrors the company's approach during the March 31 layoffs, which were carried out by email with Oracle declining to comment on the process. Employees now expect the emails to land on the morning of September 1 itself, an expectation built on how the last round went, with system access being revoked the same morning. As reported by Business Insider, the message began with the difficult news that their position had been affected, stating "After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change."
Over the past 12 months until May 31, Oracle has already disclosed the elimination of 21,000 jobs, representing a 13 percent reduction in its global workforce. As reported by Moneycontrol, the company may cut between 7,000 and 10,000 jobs worldwide, with approximately 3,000 employees in India potentially affected. The Indian workforce, which currently stands around 30,000 and hosts major engineering and technology teams, could be significantly impacted through this expected round of layoffs. According to TD Cowen, Oracle may cut up to 30,000 jobs to help close a $20 billion AI data center funding gap, with some teams facing double-digit percentage reductions. The waiting period has produced strange rituals among employees, with some checking email at 6 a.m. on Mondays after payday just to confirm they still have jobs, and others noting that nothing arrived at Oracle's India Development Centre at 6 a.m. Employees were also informed that access to company systems, including computers, email and files, would be deactivated, making the abrupt nature of the process a major talking point among current and former Oracle employees.
Despite the planned workforce reductions, Oracle reported $67.4 billion in revenue for fiscal 2026, up 17% year-on-year, with its cloud business growing even faster at 39% to $34 billion. As reported by Moneycontrol, cloud infrastructure revenue jumped 77% to $18.1 billion, with Q4 alone seeing a 93% surge. However, sustaining this growth requires massive investment in computing infrastructure, particularly as Oracle expands its AI capabilities. The company reported negative free cash flow of $23.7 billion for fiscal 2026, though it generated a record $32 billion in operating cash flow, up 54%. Oracle's capital expenditure jumped to $55.7 billion from $21.2 billion the previous year, largely due to data center expansion. The company burned $23.7 billion more cash than it generated and expects about $40 billion more this year, with interest expense climbing to $4.6 billion from $3.6 billion.
Despite the planned workforce reductions, Oracle's business continues to show strong growth in AI infrastructure. The company is heavily investing in AI and cloud infrastructure while its business expands, with customers helping fund AI expansion by paying in advance for GPUs or supplying them directly. According to Moneycontrol, Oracle ended fiscal 2026 with $638 billion in remaining performance obligations (RPO), up 363% from the previous year, with much of the increase coming from large AI contracts signed during the second half. The company has secured a $300 billion, five-year contract with OpenAI to purchase computing capacity, while xAI also uses Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to operate its Grok models. Oracle has confirmed eliminating roughly 21,000 roles as part of a $2.1 billion restructuring reserve, with workers documenting they were asked to train AI systems before being let off. For employees, however, this means that strong growth in AI does not necessarily guarantee job security, as the company attempts to redirect resources toward areas it considers strategically important while controlling costs elsewhere.
The upcoming layoffs have created significant anxiety among Oracle's workforce, particularly regarding stock compensation. A survey of 272 workers cut in March found 27% had stock due to vest within 90 days, while one laid-off senior manager said 70% of his compensation sat in RSUs and he was four months from $1 million vesting. Restricted stock units make up a large slice of engineering pay at Oracle, and unvested RSUs are forfeited on exit. On r/employeesOfOracle, a 52,000-visitor forum that has run a "probable layoff" megathread through August, employees have spent the last three weeks watching a calendar instead of a dashboard. Some in the thread now expect September 15, pointing to a townhall scheduled that day, while others say after September 24 or 25. The consensus answer from those already cut is that acceleration is not negotiable, with one ex-employee noting that a group took Oracle to court seeking 2026 RSUs be honoured and lost. While September 1 has become a key date for employees and industry watchers, it should not be presented as a confirmed company-wide layoff unless Oracle makes an official announcement.
