Oracle begins layoffs affecting thousands: Report

Cloud computing firm Oracle is laying off ​thousands of employees, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing two people ‌familiar with the matter.

Late on Tuesday, Oracle ​said it will lay off 491 ⁠employees working remotely in Washington state and at its Seattle offices effective June 1, according to a notice filed under ‌the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

The job cuts are part of a “reduction in ‌force and other terminations,” Oracle said, adding that ‌its ⁠Seattle sites will remain open. The company had ⁠about 162,000 full-time employees globally as of May 2025.

The WARN Act requires employers to provide at least 60 days’ notice ahead of ​layoffs.

Oracle declined to ‌comment on the CNBC report, although several social media users on Reddit, X and anonymous workplace network Blind, shared details of the potential cuts, fuelling uncertainty ‌and confusion among employees.

The layoffs come amid ​Oracle steps up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in an effort to better compete ⁠with cloud rivals, such as Alphabet and Amazon.

In a March filing, Oracle said it expects total costs tied to ‌its fiscal 2026 restructuring plan to reach up to $2.1 billion, largely driven by employee severance and related expenses.

Shares in the company climbed more than 5% in afternoon trade, but remained down about 29% this year so far.

Meanwhile, more than 70 tech ‌companies have cut around 40,480 jobs so far this year, per ​Layoffs.fyi, as companies increasingly reallocate resources toward AI, heightening fears of AI-driven disruptions among workers.

Last ⁠week, Meta laid off a few hundred employees across multiple ⁠teams, a source told Reuters. Earlier this month, Reuters had reported that Meta was planning ‌sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of its workforce.