Oracle carried out a fresh round of layoffs this week, even as it reported record quarterly revenue driven by its AI datacentre buildout. Staff first realised they had lost their jobs when they were locked out of corporate systems such as email and Slack, with many complaining on LinkedIn that no notice was sent to personal addresses, leaving them scrambling to find out what was happening. It is the latest step in a broader year-long restructuring that has already seen roughly 21,000 jobs disappear as Oracle reshapes its business around AI infrastructure.

A layoff email seen by Business Insider told affected staff their role was being eliminated "as part of a broader organisational change" and that their last working day was that same day, with reports suggesting severance of four weeks' pay plus an extra week per year of service; some of those let go said they had worked at Oracle for two decades. The exact number of job losses in this latest wave is unclear, but Oracle's newest SEC filing shows it has raised its 2026 restructuring budget by a further $700 million (US), on top of an already-expected $2.1 billion, largely for severance and exit costs. That comes despite the company posting $19.3 billion in revenue and $4.76 billion in net income for the quarter to 31 August, up around 30 percent year-on-year — figures that underline how Oracle's AI bet is paying off financially even as it continues cutting staff.