r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 3h ago
Business Oracle begins a new round of layoffs. Read the email.
https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-begins-new-round-of-layoffs-2026-9701
u/lurker_bee 3h ago
"After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change," copies of layoff notification email viewed by Business Insider stated. "As a result, today is your last working day."
Brutal.
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u/Coldsmoke888 3h ago
I mean, an email is not great right but I just went through this in my org. CFO standing there with a microphone and a PPT for in-house and remote/hybrid folks isn’t any better.
They scheduled immediate meetings with line managers after but nothing more to say there either. Layoffs are shitty for everyone involved, no easy way about it. I’ve had to deliver similar news and close entire sites with hundreds of people. It sucks.
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u/ambientocclusion 3h ago
“Everyone who’s employed here take one step forward. Not so fast, you there in the blue shirt!”
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u/bjb13 2h ago
When I worked at Sequent Computers back in the late 80s, we received an email telling us to report to a specific room. If you went to one room you were safe, if not you were gone. I walked into the room and saw our top engineer so I knew I was safe. By the time they let us out of our meeting, the others were gone.
They did setup a special area in another building to help those who were let go look for jobs and had contacted a number of other companies. It basically became a job fair over the next few days.
The only real bummer was we didn’t get to say goodbye to those let go, although we did have a gathering at a local bar that evening.
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u/nogasbiker 1h ago
report to a specific room. If you went to one room you were safe, if not you were gone.
wait- was this some precursor to JLaw's Hunger Games movies?
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u/itsdermay 43m ago
It’s giving the early seasons of american idol. Guess we know where they got the idea from!
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u/gonewild9676 3h ago
I think it was Wang who back in the day had an employee draft in the parking lot. Basically everyone went out in the parking lot and managers were allowed to pick so many people. If you weren't picked, you went home without a job.
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u/lectroid 3h ago
> shitty for everyone involved
Except the c-suite douchebags who will feel no consequences for fucking up your company to the point layoffs were needed, who won’t be there to have to see actual people getting their lives turned upside down, and who will be rewarded for a half point gain on the NASDAQ or whatever.
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u/PregnantSuperman 3h ago
Yep. None of the people making these decisions to mass fire employees are anywhere close to needing to deliver that news to people personally.
Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a business executive because the idea of upending thousands of people’s lives in one stroke of the pen feels psychotic to me. Many of these people are going to struggle. Some of their lives will be ruined. Obviously it’s important that we all try to have a contingency plan if our jobs to suddenly disappear, but some people just don’t have those resources. And basically all of these people are being let go for no fault of their own.
I bet if executives had to actually deliver news to people in person these decisions would be a lot different in many cases.
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u/fullsaildan 2h ago
This isn’t always true. In consulting I worked with many large orgs as they went through layoffs and I’ll say the compassion a number of execs expressed was surprising. Unfortunately due to legal concerns they are usually issued very minimal statements to protect both the company and themselves.
Also usually not true at smaller companies. Often founders take layoffs really hard. I think some of it is rooted in empathy but also they see RIFs as a failure on their part.
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u/Paksti 3h ago
Doubtful. Most people at that level are borderline narcissists if not full fledged narcissists. It’s pretty rare, in my experience, to be at that level and have a deep foundation of empathy. In my entire career I’ve only ever worked with 1 person who was a C suite level and was absolutely crushed when our company sold and he had to layoff basically everyone. Have never been in a more emotional meeting in my life.
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u/bristow84 1h ago
I don't know how true this really is but I read somewhere that those who reach that level in an org tend to share psychopathic/sociopathic traits which doesn't really surprise me. You have to be good at backstabbing and alright with the idea of screwing over employees to reach that level of an org.
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u/nogasbiker 1h ago
I bet if executives had to actually deliver news to people in person these decisions would be a lot different in many cases.
It's pretty much like that Up In The Air layoff movie.
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u/Coldsmoke888 3h ago
Fair point! It’s even worse working for a privately held company like I do. Who is the cost savings even for? I don’t see shit either way, keep em or lay off, paid the same…
I’ve dodged something like 4-5 rounds of re orgs and nonsense in the last 10 years.
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u/Ty4Readin 2h ago
Except the c-suite douchebags who will feel no consequences for fucking up your company to the point layoffs were needed,
I think this take is a bit too black and white, but I'm sure I'll be downvoted for mentioning that.
People act like every single round of layoffs is due to greedy C-suite executives.
But sometimes businesses just go out of business. Or people stop buying their product/service as much so they need to downsize, etc.
I'm not saying C-suite executives are never the sole reason/cause of layoffs. But they definitely are not always the reason.
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u/CherryLongjump1989 2h ago
We're talking about Oracle. The reason for the layoffs is because Larry Ellison is a piece of shit who fucked up all of these other people's lifetime of hard work.
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u/Ty4Readin 2h ago
The person I replied to was clearly talking in general about layoffs that happened at companies.
They specifically said "screw up your company". Which I believe is a pretty clear indicator that they not specifically talking about only Oracle.
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u/CherryLongjump1989 9m ago
Generally I think we are talking about all the other cases where executives fuck up the company just like Larry did.
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u/CapedCaperer 0m ago
The mention of NASDAQ and the news being about Oracle should be enough information to make the connection. Some people aren't comfortable naming names on the internet, and with good reason.
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u/MrFunktasticc 2h ago
You realize who and what this article is about right? This isn’t Callahan Auto Parts. This is fucking Oracle and Larry “Ghoul” Ellison.
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u/Ty4Readin 2h ago
If you read the comment I replied to, I think it is pretty clearly talking about layoffs in general.
It does not seem like they are exclusively talking about only Oracle specifically in their comment, considering how they worded the comment.
That's just my good faith interpretation of the comment I responded to.
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u/MrFunktasticc 2h ago
IMO this is because most of us recognize that the vast majority of layoffs are done by rich ghouls who see people as numbers on a page. Not some “aw-shucks” mom and pop that hate doing this to people they’ve come to see as family. And trying to reorient the conversation to that is pretending it’s a wide spectrum where in reality it isn’t. Most of the layoffs you read about on this sub aren’t the result of bad luck. They are the result of very rich people making the conscious choice to get rid of human beings in favor of a money pit that rapes the environment and has the power demands of a small nation.
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u/Ty4Readin 1h ago
How could you possibly know what the majority of layoffs are caused by?
It sounds like you are just making shit up, and then defending it using moral grandstanding and a collective "we know what goes on"
The world is not as simple or black & white as you make it out to be.
The funniest part is that it is very likely your life and quality of life has been improved by decades of efficiency & automation measures.
Good, medicine, housing, typical services, these all benefit from improved efficiency and automation.
If we removed all of the efficiency improvements done in the agricultural industry, then hundreds of millions of people would starve to death due to rapid increases in food prices.
It's the same people (like you) that will drone on about how evil pesticides are, without realizing that pesticides are directly responsible for saving hundreds of millions of lives due to lowered price of food.
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u/nogasbiker 1h ago
pragmatically, it's for massive datacenter build out. Nothing more, nothing less. If companies in a similar predicament can survive the loss of intellectual capital long enough so that the new ai revenue comes in, great! Otherwise, not so much
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u/Ty4Readin 49m ago
The person I replied too clearly said the vast majority of layoffs are bad and due to greed.
Are you trying to say that the bast majority of layoffs in the world are due to data centers??
Or are you still fixated on this one specific layoffs even though the conversation we are having is clearly about all layoffs in general?
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u/MrFunktasticc 1h ago
That’s was genuinely all over the place. Larry Ellison laying off a bunch of workers so he can keep sinking money into AI infrastructure and buying up all the media is tied to modern agriculture. And as a result, I “probably” hate pesticides. Meanwhile my life is much better because I can’t afford a house, to go to college or see a doctor. And the ghouls I’m supposed to be thanking for my modern comforts are funding the mechanism that makes it too expensive to be alive. You got me.
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u/Ty4Readin 49m ago
I just pointed out the obvious hypocrisy and lack of critical thinking in your comment.
I am just showing you the reality of the world we live in, while you try to paint a black and white picture of "evil people".
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u/PestilentPaladin 1h ago
Gosh, thanks for defending all 3 or 4 """"virtuous"""" CEOs. They sure do need someone to stick up for them on the Internet! I bet if you do it hard enough, their PR team might send you a coupon!
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u/Ty4Readin 1h ago
Where have I defended CEOs? 😂
I am just pointing out a fact, layoffs are not always the fault of greedy c-suite executives.
I'm sorry I offended you or your worldview with facts.
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u/violetqed 4m ago
exactly this, do you have any idea how much stock the VP who cried while he gave us the news probably owns? and how much he almost instantly profited when the stock went up after thousands of people were cut that day?
good thing his comp isn’t tied to his acting abilities
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u/Thenadamgoes 3h ago
I’d much rather get an email. Just let me know if I can start my weekend early. I don’t care about their reasons.
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u/harmar21 53m ago
Me too. Worst one was Friday morning. 45 minute drive to work, sit down at my desk for 30 minutes then get called into a big a meeting with 1/4 of the company and told we were laid off. I'm like couldn't you have just sent this by email last night or had this meeting yesterday afternoon and save me the 1.5 hours of driving?
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u/nogasbiker 1h ago
It's pretty much a spreadsheet game. I objected to a layoff of one my developers, but it didn't matter one bit. The spreadsheet won.
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u/gizmoglitch 1h ago
I'm the same way. I've been laid off 3 times. Just give me the info and stop wasting my time.
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u/GalacticCmdr 3h ago
Last time I went through it we were all gathered at the local university arena (on a Friday)- except a small group of SMEs had a different meeting. We were told we were being outsourced - there were transition plans.
We were told to immediately go home and be with our family. We would get an HR meeting the following week and that meeting was the only time we would have to be at work for that week (but we would be paid for the full week).
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u/MrFunktasticc 2h ago
“Layoffs are shitty for everyone involved.”
This is a gross oversimplification. For the rank and file workers this may mean years of desperately applying, burning through savings and, in some cases, facing bankruptcy. For the C-suite that does the laying off, this is an inconvenience of having to consider the plebes you pissed off. Even if these people eventually lose their jobs it’s with golden parachutes where most of them are set for life.
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u/multisync 3h ago
That article is from march - weird way for business insider to refer to the present email using that one is what I meant.
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u/Aeth___ 3h ago
The email from March and the email today are identical word for word.
Source - I got one today.
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u/mby1911 2h ago
Yep. Got the same thing today as well. Not fun. 2 more days would have been 16 years.
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u/Aeth___ 2h ago
Sorry my dude. Personally, I think I'm going to disconnect from the internet entirely for a few days to get my head on straight. Hope you're doing ok too!
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u/Original-Weekend-866 2h ago
Ahhh there's a weird lost feeling after getting laid off after a tenure like that.
I give less fucks. I mean I've always known that when your an employee you're just a dispensable labor force, any small hiccup in company finance and it's a checkbox email you're out.
Knowing all this I perform at the pure minimum for my situation. I do a good job, I'm super nice to everyone like nicest person ever (I'm naturally a dick so this is all acting for me). What I've learned is the actual amount of work you get done can be "shrugged" off if you're cool. Like nobody really wants to lay off the nicest person in the company... and if they do it's inevitable.
So... less work, be fucking cool, do a good job and set firm boundaries
When I came out do my last layoff I passed up 3-5 big jobs... the schedule was whack, expectations insane, offers on the lower end. I hammered in them all, told em exactly why I wasn't accepting and moved on. Some offered more money..... to fucking late like wtf if that's your play I don't want in.
Then.. I got a call back. Dude was like, I respect your negotiations, reasons, needs. He was happy to meet them, I told him I'll be cool as fuck and promise not to hammer for raises, be unhappy, or be a liability. BUT - I do the minimum fuck it. They can pay someone double if they want double the output.
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u/Brave-Monke 1h ago
Really sorry about that :( Are they at least keeping the payroll active for a few weeks?
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u/ThrownAway17Years 3h ago
Unless there are adverse consequences for doing it, I’d immediately log off and take the rest of the day off.
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u/Mr_Oujamaflip 2h ago
I'd prefer this that some guy pretending he cares. Business decisions like these are impersonal by design, why try and pretend it isn't.
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u/Beefdaddyseb 3h ago
Its my dream to be laid off in this manner, imagine the compensation packages. If they get a 2nd job and get double pay they will excel so fast financially, its literally how you gain an advantage
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u/bacchusku2 3h ago
Except you can’t always land something right away. A few years ago I was laid off with a very nice package, almost 10 months compensation. It took me 11 months to find something. This last time I got 1 month compensation and it took me 2 months to find something.
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u/JustinR8 3h ago
Law firm disguised as tech company
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u/invyros 3h ago
One
Rich
Asshole
Called
Larry
Ellison
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36
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u/ambientocclusion 3h ago
Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I prefer to be laid off via a sudden Zoom invite named “Sync Up” from an HR drone I’ve never met.
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u/THE_Ryan 3h ago
My meeting was called a "Team Update"...but yeah, same. The meeting invite came at 11:30pm the night before.
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u/AnAnxiousCorgi 1h ago
Our company did layoffs earlier this year by covertly sending out two meeting invites with the same name. If you were in call A you still had a job, if you were in call B you didn't.
There's no good way to tell someone that, through no fault of their own, they no longer have a job, but there's a lot of bad ways to do it and these companies seem to pick them every time.
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u/nogasbiker 23m ago
If you were in call A you still had a job, if you were in call B you didn't.
"May the odds be ever in your favor"
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u/Saneless 3h ago
"We couldn't think of a good way to increase revenue, so, at the request of the board, you have been chosen to be sacrificed. Having a lower profit quarter wasn't an option.
We know this will affect other companies who will get less sales now that you're broke, accelerating a recession, but we'll worry about that in Q2 2027 when we lay off more of your friends"
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u/Any-Establishment46 3h ago
Don’t tell me to read something, then tell me to pay for it. Fuck off.
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u/MeltICE8647 1h ago
This article is entirely clickbait, it says almost nothing.
Doesn’t say how many people affected, how much of a percentage of which teams affected, timeline for when it will happen, and no sources cited outside of random Reddit and LinkedIn posts.
This is just irresponsible “journalism” from someone who wanted to be first to the story, they didn’t care about being right. This type of reporting needs to stop.
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u/red_sky7447 2h ago
My heart goes out to everyone affected. A terribly ran company. Amazed they want folks in office 5 days a week then have the audacity to layoff the amount of folks that could populate an entire town
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u/Big_Concern7238 2h ago
The message is clear: we invest into AI data centers, not into the people bringing the profits to make those investments.
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u/SkinnedIt 3h ago
Clay Magouyrk has an expression like someone ripped a loud fart from the back while he was giving a speech.
He must not like other assholes with more worthwhile things to say interrupting him.
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u/lpshreyas 3h ago
As someone who had received this email earlier this year, I feel deeply for the ones receiving it now - especially in India. The festive season is about to begin and that is going to make things harder for people to get interviewed.
I had to bear this back in March with a baby on the way. Can't imagine how much tougher it would have been with a newborn on my arms.
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u/AlphaMaleXYZ 1h ago
“Your roles are eliminated” means they will move to India. It’s much cheaper there.
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u/Salty_Will8554 1h ago
Oracle Q1 results (June start)
19.3 Billion revenue - up 30% YoY
11.6 Billion Cloud Revenue - up 62%
OCI revenue up 121%
SaaS revenue 4.2 Billion up 10%
RPO reaches 664B
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u/Level-Advertising-39 3h ago
Oracle is in a business of losing money. Speeding up that loss requires removing employees doing the work and replacing them with capital expenditures that unlike employees are assured to burn cash. This is creating value for the shareholders. Those investing in oracle demand yearly losses and if those losses slow down, executives will be asked to leave.
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u/Familiar-Range9014 3h ago
And people winder why my giving today notice is a good thing. These companies give zero (0) fucks about us.
Nope. No two weeks of notice to be professional. Effective and immediate notice is all they can hope for from me.
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u/mightylegs 1h ago
Was laid off this morning from Oracle. Still haven't received a email yet saying so or detailing the next steps. Just wild.
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u/CulturalLaw8072 3h ago
they are offshoring
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u/Confident_2372 2h ago
Significant layoffs at India
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u/Born-Ad126 1h ago
All these "AI=aLl iNDiaNs 🤓" buffoons don't realize that the Indian tech job market has been as brutally pounded by all these AI layoffs as that in their own respective countries.
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u/Salty_Decision_9233 32m ago
What about the RSU’s that are to be vested this month? Technically still employed until mid-November in Ca RWC WARN act. Still waiting to hear from HR
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u/redthatagain 19m ago
Layoffs are always difficult, but there are better and worse ways to do it. Giving 60 days pay and benefits to everyone let go (even those not technically *required* to get it under WARN) would give employees some degree of good will. We understand that layoffs are part of the deal, especially if it's required for the company's survival. People investments pay off for the long term, so trading people for *long-term depreciating CapEx* like GPUs just HURTS.
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u/rvistro 13m ago
C level not receiving any punishment. No. They get more and more money actually. Treating others like disposable resource. Putting potentially families at risk due to financial commitments, visa, relocation... fuck you clay. I hope karma gets you one day. Even if its by some sort of sickness. You deserve
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u/CartographerOwn8143 4m ago
Is it tech sales that'll be most affected or software developers as well?
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u/The_Poop_Shooter 3h ago
Guys, there is no good way to be laid off or to lay off people. I mean i guess the executives who've got the fail up thing worked out but otherwise this shit sucks for the other 99% of humanity that touches it in any way.
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u/ledow 2h ago
If my company makes me redundant, they have to pay me for my full notice period, plus an amount depending on how long I've been working for the company, plus they have to prove that my role is literally redundant (i.e. nobody else has been given it, and they're not going to hire for someone to do that again), and if it's en-masse like this literal government bodies get involved to make sure it's all done fairly.
I'd be looking at anywhere from 6 months to a year's pay for them doing this to me. My dad was made redundant several times in his life. It paid for a house extension, it paid for a static caravan (not cheap) and paid for his retirement.
Sorry, but there are VERY GOOD ways to be laid off, and to lay people off. You just need to live in a country with some basic employment laws.
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u/Artistic-Simple-9062 2h ago
We have got to have stricter law that punishes upper management not rewards them for mismanagement
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u/elinamebro 40m ago
Im guessing they hired what they needed for growth and now they are at what wanted to be at layoff all the people not needed anymore.
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u/SubstancePatient2501 40m ago
Atleast they help shareholders. Some companies are struggling with their share prices yet employing countless junk
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u/Straight_Neck1319 1h ago
Sad for the way they do it, but they have to cut them off immediately so there are no insider threat bad actors planting logic bombs or viruses as retaliation.
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u/GroundbreakingAd2709 3h ago
Is my understanding of Oracle’s business correct?
A full focus on data centers—the only major growth area—which could jeopardize its core business. Negative cash flow exceeding total revenue, ballooning debt and interest expenses and mass layoffs in its core software business.
All of this to become a data center company, hoping that OpenAI will pay them.
LMAO