Oracle laid off employees receive severance capped at 26 weeks of base salary plus one week per year of service, but lose all unvested stock awards and future bonuses. The company is cutting costs amid billions in debt for AI infrastructure investments, with workforce declining by 21,000 employees in fiscal 2026. Oracle's severance package is less generous than competitors like Microsoft and Salesforce.
The Trump administration spent an estimated $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers in 2025, driven largely by a DOGE-era deferred resignation program that cost $6.7 billion and allowed nearly 140,000 employees to be paid through September after agreeing to quit. The GAO report found administrative leave costs rose sixfold and usage jumped 435% from 2023 to 2025 as part of efforts to shrink government, though the Office of Personnel Management acknowledged it cannot accurately track the true costs of these workforce reduction efforts.
Oracle has begun another round of layoffs as it pursues costly AI and cloud expansion, building on a 13% workforce reduction in fiscal 2024. The company is managing rising debt while investing billions in infrastructure, with CEO Larry Ellison recently canceling a $7.5 billion share-sale plan.