Oracle has reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees, a steep round of cuts that comes as the company commits billions of dollars to artificial intelligence infrastructure and acknowledges that AI is reshaping its staffing needs.
The size of the reduction surfaced in a regulatory filing on Monday, which showed Oracle had 141,000 full-time employees as of May 31, the close of its fiscal year, down from 162,000, according to Bloomberg.
“The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce,” the company said in the filing.
Oracle began eliminating thousands of roles earlier this year as it looked to trim costs while investing heavily in expensive AI data centers for major customers, including OpenAI.
The job cuts have drawn criticism from current and former workers.
One former Oracle employee alleged that the company focused on workers “with outstanding stock options” in a recent layoff round. The scrutiny has been heightened by reports that Oracle’s new chief financial officer received a stock package valued at $26 million.
Oracle’s headcount is now slightly below where it stood before the company’s $28 billion acquisition of Cerner, the electronic health records firm, in 2022.
READ MORE: Noah Presgrove Announcement May Finally Solve Teen's Mysterious Death
That acquisition added thousands of employees to Oracle’s ranks, many of them based near Cerner’s headquarters in the Kansas City area, Bloomberg reported.
In recent years, Oracle has become one of the most high-profile companies to leave California, moving its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin in 2020 and then to Nashville in 2024.
The move has only fueled concern about a corporate exodus from the Golden State.
Texas now has more Fortune 500 company headquarters than California, a major shift from California’s longtime stronghold.
The 2026 Fortune 500 list shows Texas has 57 companies with about $2.8 trillion in revenue, just ahead of California’s 56 companies with $2.7 trillion in revenue.
California held the top spot for years with major companies like Chevron, Tesla and Oracle. However, high taxes, regulations and rising living costs have sped up business migration to Texas.
The shift comes as debate continues over proposals that would impose new taxes on California’s wealthiest residents — including a controversial one-time 5% wealth tax.
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
