Oracle considering 'thousands' of layoffs, could happen as soon as August: report

Justin Sullivan

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) has considered cutting costs as much as $1B and laying off "thousands" of employees, perhaps as soon as August, The Information reported.

The news outlet, citing a person with direct knowledge of the situation, noted the layoffs could "disproportionately impact" workers in the U.S. and Europe and occur in areas such as marketing for software applications in customer service and e-commerce.

Oracle (ORCL) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

Austin, Texas-based Oracle (ORCL) shares closed at $71.87 on Friday, fractionally higher.

The potential job cuts come just weeks after Oracle (ORCL) closed its $28B acquisition of Cerner to give the company a deeper presence in the healthcare technology space. With the acquisition, Oracle acquired some 28,000 employees from Cerner, according to the company's website.

The news also comes just days after TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance (BDNCE), said it had completed the process of routing all of its U.S. traffic using Oracle's (ORCL) cloud infrastructure to better-secure the information of its U.S.-based users.

In addition to the potential job cuts, The Information reported that two senior Oracle (ORCL) executives were departing -- Chief Marketing Officer Ariel Kelman, and Juergen Lindner, a senior vice president of marketing for subscription software applications.

Oracle (ORCL) recently won a $54M judgement against HP Enterprise (HPE) for infringing upon its Solaris operating system and impacting its business.

Comments

[FrequentFlyer02]

“Service & Commerce” it feels like CX strategy is still not working. Challenging Salesforce didn’t succeed.

[RockyCT]

@BornInTheCloud CX will chip away at Salesforce CRM over time. Oracle has a shot of becoming dominant in ERP, database, and infrastructure because they offer an integrated suite that works together. Less costly and better product. Or, Oracle could possibly purchase Salesforce in a few years. They already run on the Oracle database so integration not be that bad.

[FrequentFlyer02]

@RockyCT this is very wishful thinking Salesforce is way beyond price point Safra could justify. Plus let’s not forget Oracle lost deal to run Salesforce cloud infrastructure. Now only AWS is supported in Hyperforce which also moving away from Exadata and Oracle DB which was foundation of previous sales force infrastructure.

[RockyCT]

@BornInTheCloud In 5 years things will be different. Your looking at the present and I'm trying to predict the future. I really like Oracle's positioning/products vs every other IT company. AWS could buy SAP but that is a losing proposition. No other cloud provider has a complete SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS like Oracle. If you are a Fortune 500 company and want to do a complete digital transformation I think they will become dominant. If not, then, they will not be buying anyone of a scale like Salesforce.

[William_Wallace]

Tom Siebel on Mad Money: "Hey Jim, you and I know that there will be a blood bath in technology in the next couple of years, we've seen this movie before". Siebel expecting a blood bath, sounds to me like the Nasdaq is going much much lower, blood bath does not translate as stock rally, and Tom Siebel knows what's going on.

[DeepFake AI]

@William_Wallace LOL he is talking about C3 AI

[William_Wallace]

@DeepFake AI He's the CEO of C3.ai and formerly the CEO of Siebel Systems which Oracle bought in 2005 for $5.85 Billion. He was talking about technology in general. As far as C3.ai goes, he commented on their large cash position, high margins and that they would be profitable within 6Q's with plenty of cash to weather any storm. 1:25
www.youtube.com/...

[D. Rockefeller]

How long will it be before many corporations begin laying off millions since AI computers can replace almost all types of high tech workers? The whole concept of work needs to be addressed since so many folks can and will be replaced joining the ranks of as the Davos crowd calls them "useless people". Decades ago I witnessed at GM the mass firing of designers, draftsmen, assembly line and warehouse workers due to automaton, CADCAM, robotics and wonder why all these companies "employ" these "useless people" like insurance companies since they could all be replaced with computer software easier than manufacturing/engineering workers were. With the energy crisis it could save loads of energy if folks weren't traveling like lunatics to some "job" which really is just busy work welfare. Military soldiers became useless after WW2 since "fighting" against nuclear weapons is ridiculous. Rifles? The whole useless front "government" is a total waste except for providing the illusion of a representative government.(paid off actors is all they are) Human race is moving towards big changes-if they survive like towards a hydrogen/ammonia energy system instead of petroleum. Most "jobs" could be replaced right now saving billions although social costs would be unthinkable which might be why they haven't. It would enable folks to enjoy a lot more freedom in their lives instead of competing in a senseless world of delusion.

[VettRod]

@D. Rockefeller once you become astute at investing you don’t have to work and your point of view becomes moot.

[Qichar]

@D. Rockefeller Who is going to program the AI computers if you lay off all of the "high tech workers"?

I have long contemplated the problem of being replaced by an AI software engineer and, as far as I can tell as a software engineer with an AI background, "not yet, not for a long while yet."

[MoneyPig]

Oh no! Oracle is a canary in the business coal mine.

[qwerty11]

@MoneyPig Normally has but as they just overtook a 28l people company no...

[Ronaldo123]

I guess they over hired during the pandemic last year. Amazon, FB and other tech companies are facing similar dilemma and I predict we will be seeing more headlines like this from other companies.

[Ordinary Wealth]

This is likely the start of more layoffs. Numerous tech companies have made similar announcements. Forward looking indicators suggest declines in job openings are coming. The labor participation rate is still depressed compared to pre-pandemic, which I surmise is disguising what would otherwise be weakening job data and the final sign of recession.

[Victor Justice]

“Oracle (ORCL) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.”

LOL…This is pretty funny, maybe they did respond, but Seeking Alpha is about the only “news” organization that closes on the weekend. Sad really.

[MoneyPig]

@Victor Justice

Seeking Alpha is the best. Thank you to everyone at Seeking Alpha. I even appreciate the comments.

[oeconomicus]

BULLISH. Stonks only go up.

Layoffs = increased efficiency
Hiring = increased demand

[BlueSands8]

Would Larry Ellison help out and buy one less island? hmm.. I guess not.

[King4Coins]

There will be a lot more headlines similar to this one.

[Elon the GOAT]

Dying oracle. It’s time has passed.

[Brucejfern]

@Awjeanbeau

Wrong, while late to the cloud game they are making it a game and the layoffs are part of an effort to de-emphasize the old Oracle.

[Vantablack]

@Brucejfern
"Wrong, while late to the cloud game they are making it a game and the layoffs are part of an effort to de-emphasize the old Oracle."

A new (Starlink) version of the cloud will be out before the end of the year and I can assure all of you, AWS won't stand a chance unless they partner with Apple.

[stockjunkie2]

Oracle going into healthcare technology is a great move. It’s currently a true mess - half the doctors can’t give you the results of your tests on real time basis. Cerner gives them an entry point - but may need some pruning to optimize operations.

[osa]

this is business as usual at Oracle...they are overstaffed in an product lines that aren't selling...either reduce the headcount or make people find other jobs...this is a complete non event.

[Qichar]

@osa Out of curiosity I went on Team Blind and it seems there were layoff posts every year for the last several years. This seems like an annual event at Oracle. But it's hardly a differentiator. There seem to be performance-based pruning at many large tech companies...

[TellyS]

As others have pointed out, since they just acquired many multiples more employees in the recent acquisition, this doesn't seem like earth-shattering news.

That said, I'm familiar with Oracle's HR and it takes them forever to staff up any position because like seven layers of management have to interview a person, so if the cuts they are making are too deep in any area, it will probably be multiple quarters before they resolve it.

[DomL]

Thousands? Or they can keep them and just eat into their earnings.

[GONGON]

So they aquired Cerner with 28000 and now cutting thousands. This is non-news LOL.

[r Negoro]

Unemployment is a lagging indicator. We might be in recession now.

[leeo268]

@r Negoro Fed openly admit that they want recession and unemployment to reduce inflation. They are throwing the stock market, bond market, and job market under the bus to save the king Dollar.

[The know it all guy]

Even after this......there is room to cut...

[User 31614085]

"thousands"...Oracle employs 143,000..has anybody ever worked anywhere where trimming the bottom 2% wouldn't be helpful??

[sam$$]

@MJL987 it's the dominoes effect of well paid jobs lost. Affecting other areas of the economy. As the article points out marketing expenses will be first to get trimmed. Now imagine the effect on the marketing companies.... etc. This being said layoffs are necessary for the next economic boom cycle.

[marill123]

@sam$$ Besides, we need more Real Estate agents ...

[Victor Justice]

@MJL987 …I’ve worked at a lot of places where trimming the TOP 2% would be extremely helpful!

[Windy Hill]

Just a reminder to our democratic-socialist friends: the job of a corporation is not to create employment but rather to produce value (as defined by customers' voluntary purchases of good and services) using the least possible resources.

Also, of course, it is quite standard practice for companies to eliminate duplicative functions (2 HR departments, 2 CIO offices, etc.) following a merger.

(That said, Oracle was one of my least favorite vendors back when I was buying software--really aggressive hard-sell and it seemed like our reps changed every six months.)

[Jacobin777]

@Windy Hill What does this have ANYTHING to do with politics? Layoffs happen all of the time and everywhere, including Silicon Valley. Keep the silly and trite political comments out.

[Gelf74]

@Jacobin777 everything is has to do with politics ,we come front 4 years of economic boom and job creation and we fall into a recession ,because of high inflation,higher live cost ,higher price ,reduction of consumption and expenses, so everything has to do with good or bad politics .....don't be foolish.

[Jacobin777]

@Gelf74 "Don't be foolish". Are you looking at yourself in a mirror and asking yourself that question?

You must be deluded, brainwashed or ignorant to think 90% of the current inflation problem is due to Biden.

I'm not a fan of few of Biden's policies (such as the border wall situation) however to blame this current GLOBAL inflation problem on Biden is sheer ignorance.

POTUS-45's GDP, etc. weren't too good either.

"GDP Growth Under Trump Was the Worst Since Hoover"

www.bloomberg.com/...