Oracle Sheds 21,000 Jobs as It Continues AI-Focused Streamlining

By Fabiana Negrin Ochoa and Kimberley Kao

Oracle's headcount shrank by roughly 13% in its previous fiscal year, as the tech company continued to invest in artificial intelligence.

As of end-May, Oracle's headcount stood at approximately 141,000 full-time employees, compared with 162,000 at the end of the fiscal year ended May 31, 2025, according to its annual report.

The cloud-computing and database giant also reported $1.84 billion in severance and other costs tied to restructuring in the past fiscal year.

Austin, Texas-based Oracle has been cutting jobs across its business lines as it carries out an AI-focused reorganization, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Oracle said it has an existing restructuring plan in place under which it has made, and will continue to make, adjustments to its workforce.

"The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce," the company said, adding that it could initiate new restructuring plans in the future.

Oracle said it has made significant investments in AI initiatives as it builds the technology into product offerings.

It also alluded to the risks inherent in an AI-heavy strategy.

"If our competitors' AI products achieve higher market acceptance than ours, or if we incur costs higher than expected to build and support our AI products, we may fail to recoup our investments," Oracle said.

On the other hand, it noted that if it doesn't continue to invest significant resources into AI products, it might fall behind the curve.

The company has been pouring billions into its AI data center build-out. It expects to spend a net $70 billion this fiscal year, exceeding its $55.7 billion capital expenditure in the preceding fiscal year.

Write to Fabiana Negrin Ochoa at fabiana.negrinochoa@wsj.com and Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2026 02:20 ET (06:20 GMT)