AI jobs are too expensive for Oracle — the company will spend another $700 million on layoffs

Oracle has increased its layoff budget due to the high cost of building artificial intelligence data centers. According to news Bloombergrestructuring costs increased by $700 million to $2.8 billion.

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The company is under financial pressure because deploying artificial intelligence infrastructure for customers such as OpenAI requires significant investment. In order to save money, Oracle has carried out a series of layoffs this year. As of the end of May, there were 21,000 fewer employees compared with the same period last year. As a result, the number of employees in the United States reached 49,000, and the number of overseas employees reached 92,000.

Much of the $2.8 billion cost will go toward severance payments. Chief Financial Officer Hilary Maxson said business restructuring and efficiency measures were needed to protect the company’s profits as part of its formal 2026 plan.

At the same time, Oracle allowed Chairman Larry Ellison to sell up to 50 million shares. The plan is worth approximately US$8.75 billion and can be implemented until October 24. At the close of trading on June 22, the stock was trading at $175.07, but from then until Friday’s close yesterday, the quote fell 16%.

Ellison owns 40% of the company and was a major investor in his son David Ellison’s deal. We’re talking about the acquisition of Paramount Universal and the filing to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for $110 billion.