Oracle Has Cut 21,000 Jobs Last Year In Push For AI Data Centers

Catenaa, Tuesday, June 23, 2026- Oracle has cut some 21,000 jobs over the past year as the company continued its massive push into the AI data center space.

In its annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Oracle said it had some 141,000 full-time employees. That’s down from the 162,000 the company reported in 2025.

The layoffs come as Oracle spends massive sums on AI facilities. In its fiscal year 2026, Oracle spent $55.7 billion on capital expenditures. That’s a 162% increase from the $21.2 billion it spent in fiscal 2025. Adjusted revenue for 2026 was $67.4 billion. 

That spending has sent Oracle’s free cash flow plummeting nearly 6,000% to -$23.7 billion.

But Oracle has also reported remaining performance obligations (RPOs) worth $638 billion, up from $138 billion last year. The company has a five-year, $300 billion deal to provide data center capacity to OpenAI, one of its largest AI agreements.

RPOs are the value of contracts that Oracle has signed but must still deliver on before it can realize the revenue.

Oracle isn’t alone in spending on AI. Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are expected to spend a combined $725 billion this year on AI-related expenses, including purchasing chips, building data centers, and developing new AI models.

Meta, like Oracle, has cut roughly 8,000 jobs during its AI build-out, while Microsoft has offered employee buyouts. Amazon has also cut some 30,000 positions.

Investors remain cautious about Oracle’s approach to AI. The company’s stock price is down 10% year to date and more than 14% over the past 12 months.

Amazon stock, meanwhile, is up 11% over the past year, while Google is up 107%. Microsoft is down 23%, and Meta is off 17%.

Oracle enters this restructuring phase with its shares at $175.07 and a mixed return profile. The stock is down 9.1% over the past week, 8.9% over the past month, and 10.5% year to date, but is up 55.3% over three years and 138.6% over five years. 

That backdrop gives investors a clear sense of how much value has already been created as the company embarks on a significant reset.

Looking ahead, the combination of a workforce cut, a record AI-driven backlog, and plans to raise as much as $50 billion in capital leaves Oracle heavily exposed to how its largest AI customers execute. With more than half of the backlog estimated to be linked to OpenAI, concentration risk and contract terms are likely to matter as much as headline growth in commitments.

Investors will be watching how efficiently Oracle turns that backlog into revenue while managing the costs of AI infrastructure buildout.

For current and prospective shareholders, Oracle’s workforce reduction is landing at the same time as a capital-heavy AI buildout and a backlog that now exceeds the company’s market value. 

That combination is shifting the investment debate from pure growth to execution quality and balance sheet resilience. 

The 13% cut to headcount signals a push to align operating costs with an AI-centric model, in which large data center investments and long-dated customer contracts, such as with OpenAI, drive more of the economic story. 

At the same time, the plan to raise $50 billion in new capital and the reliance on a small group of AI customers mean funding structure, contract duration, and pricing terms are likely to stay in focus for investors comparing Oracle with peers such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.