Oracle announced sweeping layoffs on Tuesday — with thousands of employees waking up to a 6:00 am email terminating their employment.

“After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organisational change. As a result, today is your last working day,” Business Insider quoted the notification email as saying.

The email was also shared online by ousted employees and revealed that the company is also offering a severance package without divulging any details. Financial Express could not independently verify the details.

The layoffs came weeks after reports indicated that Oracle was conducting mandatory one-on-one calls across developer teams, holding sudden ‘catch-up’ meetings with managers and urging employees to ‘learn AI on their own time’ or be left behind.

The cuts appear to have affected employees around the world — including employees in India and the United States. The company (which employed 162,000 people in May 2025) has declined to comment on the matter. The layoffs come amid Oracle’s aggressive push to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure ​to better compete ​with rivals, such as ⁠Alphabet and Amazon that also offer cloud services.

Up to 30,000 employees impacted

Impacted employees told PTI that the US-based IT firm had laid off approximately 12,000 staffers in the country. Another round of layoffs is expected within a month. The figure accounts for nearly half of Oracle’s employees in India.

“In India, around 12,000 employees have been laid off. The company is planning another mass layoff within a month,” two people impacted by the retrenchment told the publication.

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According to a Reuters update, Oracle confirmed on Wednesday morning that its Seattle sites were not closing. The company said it would terminate 491 employees who worked remotely in Washington and at its Seattle facilities.

Severance package offered

News agency PTI reported that the company has offered 15 days’ salary to each employee who has completed a year of service in India — in addition to one month of unpaid wages till termination date, leave encashment, gratuity based on eligibility and pay for a one-month notice period. Oracle has also offered a two-month salary as a top-up. But the severance package is only available for those who voluntarily and amicably resign from the company.