Oracle Axes 21,000 Jobs as AI Takes Center Stage in Tech Shakeup

Oracle, a major technology company that was started in 1977 by Larry Ellison, has recently made some big changes to its business. Larry Ellison, who is one of the richest people in the world, still works at Oracle as the chief technology officer. Oracle is well known for its software and cloud computing services, which help other companies store and manage their data. In the past year, Oracle has decided to focus more on artificial intelligence, or AI. Because of this shift, the company has cut about 21,000 jobs worldwide. This is about 13 percent of its workforce, which means that for every 100 people who worked at Oracle, 13 lost their jobs. Now, Oracle has around 141,000 full-time employees, compared to about 162,000 last year.

The main reason for these job cuts is that Oracle, like many other technology companies, is investing a lot of money in building AI infrastructure. This includes building large data centers, which are special buildings filled with computers that help run AI programs. Many other big tech companies, such as Google, Amazon, and Meta, are also spending billions of dollars on AI. In fact, more than 100,000 tech workers have lost their jobs in the past year as companies shift their focus to AI. Oracle had to pay about $1. 8 billion in severance and restructuring costs to the workers who lost their jobs, which is much higher than the $374 million they spent the year before.

Oracle admitted that these changes can be disruptive. When so many people leave, it can be hard to find new workers with the right skills, and this can make it difficult for the company to keep up its productivity. Oracle said that as its cloud and AI businesses grow, it will keep adjusting its workforce to make sure it has the right people for the job. The company is also working with other big names in technology, like OpenAI and Meta, to build more data centers for AI. This year, Oracle plans to spend at least $50 billion on new infrastructure. Other companies are also making big investments in AI. For example, Amazon, which employs more than 1. 5 million people, plans to spend the most on AI and is also cutting about 30,000 jobs. These changes show that the technology industry is changing quickly as companies try to use AI to innovate and stay ahead.