TLDR
- Oracle is planning a new round of layoffs this month, with cuts potentially reaching double-digit percentages on some teams.
- The company wants to reduce payroll before September 1, the start of its second fiscal quarter.
- Oracle’s workforce already shrank by 21,000 employees (13%) in fiscal year ending May 31, 2026.
- Capital expenditure hit $55.7 billion in fiscal 2026, up from $21.2 billion the year prior, leaving a $23.7 billion cash outflow.
- Oracle stock is down nearly 26% year-to-date.
Oracle (ORCL) is planning another round of job cuts this month as it continues to pour money into AI infrastructure, according to a report from Business Insider.
The report, citing people familiar with the plans and an internal document, says cuts could reach double-digit percentages on some teams. Managers have been asked to identify affected employees, with Oracle aiming to reduce its payroll before September 1.
Oracle declined to comment on the report.
ORCL stock is down nearly 26% this year. The stock has been dragged lower by broader Wall Street concern over runaway capital spending across the tech sector, as well as fears that AI could eat into demand for traditional software products.
Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison pushed back on those fears during a March earnings call, telling analysts he believes the threat will affect competitors but not Oracle.
The Cost of Oracle’s AI Buildout
Oracle’s capital expenditure for fiscal 2026 came in at $55.7 billion, more than double the $21.2 billion it spent the year before. That spending left the company with a cash outflow of $23.7 billion more than it generated.
To fund the gap, Oracle raised $43 billion through debt markets and an additional $5 billion through equity issuance in fiscal 2026. It expects to raise roughly $40 billion more through borrowing and stock sales in the year ahead.
The company has flagged rising demand as the reason for the spending. Oracle posted 17% revenue growth in fiscal 2026, and its cloud infrastructure segment grew 77%, driven by demand for computing power to run AI workloads.
OpenAI is among the customers Oracle is building capacity to support.
Workforce Already Hit Hard
This latest round of cuts follows a year of heavy restructuring. Oracle’s headcount fell to approximately 141,000 full-time employees as of May 31, 2026, down from 162,000 a year earlier, a drop of 21,000 people or 13%.
The company recorded $1.8 billion in restructuring charges for the year under its 2026 Restructuring Plan, with total anticipated charges of up to $2.1 billion.
Oracle has said the headcount reduction is partly a result of deploying AI technologies internally.
The company originally said in early February that it expects to raise between $45 billion and $50 billion in 2026 to build out its cloud infrastructure capacity.
The latest planned cuts suggest Oracle is still looking for ways to offset the cost of that expansion through payroll savings heading into the new fiscal quarter.
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