- Oracle now has about 141,000 employees, down from 162,000 in 12 months
- The company spent $1.84 billion in severance and related costs last year
- Billions to be raised using new debt and equity to finance AI plans
Despite recently confirming record revenue of $67.4 billion in the just-ended fiscal year, up 17%, Oracle has laid off an estimated 21,000 employees in the same 12-month period.
The company confirmed it had around 141,000 employees on the books in May 2026, but when it made the same report last year, it had around 162,000 employees.
However, despite record revenue and drastic cost-cutting measures, share prices have fallen around 15% in a year, largely due to concerns over massive AI-driven investment.
Inside Oracle’s massive AI strategy
In a filing, the company noted that the layoffs had been influenced by various factors, including management and product changes, performance issues, other strategic shifts and corporate acquisitions. But AI also got its fair share of blame, both directly and indirectly through changing business priorities and improving internal efficiency.
During the year, Oracle spent an estimated $1.84 billion on severance, restructuring and other employee costs, marking a huge increase from the $374 million it spent on restructuring over the previous year.
But that’s nothing compared to how much the hyperscaler plans to spend in capex in the coming year — most of the $70 billion projection will be allocated to data centers and other cloud infrastructure.
However, the biggest risk investors worry about could be the source of that funding, because current plans include raising about $40 billion if through new debt and equity rather than operating cash. About $20 billion is likely to come from equity issuance (per Pakinomist) – the company is currently worth an estimated $503.5 billion.
But the recent high-profile deals with the likes of OpenAI and Meta also speak volumes for the confidence in the company from a customer perspective.
All this while generating electricity via more expensive natural gas fuel cells “with minimal emissions,” the company stated in its fourth-quarter release.
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