Oracle may be preparing to cut thousands of jobs, analysts see this $500 million as proof – The Times of India

Oracle is reportedly planning to cut jobs over the next coming months. According to a report by Financial Times, the company’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission recently revealed a database group founded by Oracle founder Larry Ellison has set aside an additional $500mn to cover restructuring costs. This, investors say, is proof that the company may be planning thousands of job cuts soon. “That increase pushes its restructuring funds to $2.1bn for the fiscal year, significantly larger than previous years, meaning it could cut thousands of roles,” the FT report says. “You don’t increase the scope of your restructuring plan by $500mn for the coming quarter without planning to reduce headcount,” said Rishi Jaluria, an RBC analyst as quoted by FT. “Oracle are telling us that restructuring, which is often code for lay-offs, could be broader than earlier this fiscal year,” Jaluria added.Oracle is already under pressure from investors over its expensive bet on building AI data centres. While there was no mention of the lay-off plans during the company’s all-hands meeting earlier this month, co-chief executives Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia reportedly told Oracle staff that AI could automate a lot of coding functions and mock up products faster, the report says.

Oracle’s remaining restructuring funds adds to job cuts fear

As per the publication, Oracle has only used about $982mn from the restructuring funds, which it said was largely apportioned to cover severance costs. This will leave $1.1bn for cuts by the end of its current fiscal year on May 31.The remaining restructuring funds, the publication adds, would permit it to cut an equal if not greater number of employees than earlier lay-offs. To recall, Oracle has cut over 3,000 jobs across the US, Canada and India between August and September last year, eliminating a “whole middle management layer in sales and marketing”.

AI coding tools hurting software companies does not apply to Oracle: Company co-CEO

During the earnings conference call, Oracle co-CEO Mike Sicilia responded to a question on SaaS-apocalypse. She said , “I’ll say a few words about the reported SaaS apocalypse. You’ve all heard the thesis or theory that new companies coding quickly using AI will spell the death of SaaS. I don’t agree with that at all. I do think that AI tools and their coding capabilities would be a threat if we weren’t adopting them, but we are, and very rapidly. Oracle is using the best AI coding tools and the best developers not only to accelerate our SaaS business, but to deliver solutions that enable entire ecosystems across numerous industries. The use of AI coding tools inside Oracle is enabling smaller engineering teams to deliver more complete solutions to our customers more quickly.”