Is this article from the future?
> Story by WALLA! MONEY
Who?
>According to the annual report of the computing giant published this week, the company had 141,000 employees as of May 31, 2026. This is a significant downsizing compared to the corresponding period last year, when the number of employees at Oracle stood at approximately 162,000 people. The report further reveals that the company paid a massive fortune of $1.84 billion for severance pay and other retirement expenses accompanying the restructuring moves in the current fiscal year.
Workforce remains huge at 141k so perhaps a non story and just normal big company rounds of redundancies that were the case pre-aiI'm not an American, so I'm not familiar with Oracle's database tech but looking through history of what good/bad Oracle has done for the world:
- good: btrfs for linux
- good: mysql (inherited)
- good: openjdk (inherited)
- good: virtualbox
- bad: oracle v google (copyrighting APIs)
- bad: mass surveillance (i.e. BlueKai)
- bad: aggressive value extraction
- bad: general mega corporation bullying
Sad that 21,000 people lost their jobs, but I don't think many people are shedding tears for Oracle itself.
“Oracle petitioned the court against the requirement, arguing that these financing costs would deter future investment in the state, while emphasizing its commitment to the project, […]. Regulators, on the other hand, remained firm in their stance, clarifying that existing customers should not subsidize data centers. This issue is not limited to Wisconsin: At least 24 US states have already approved special rates, minimum conditions, exit penalties, and collateral requirements for heavy electricity consumers.
When I joined the grass cutting lawnmower party, I didn't think it would mow my lawn!
Recent related:
Oracle could face $7B collateral bill for Wisconsin data centre
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48993488
S&P Global has lowered Oracle’s creditworthiness from BBB to BBB-
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48909768
And 3 months ago:
Oracle slashes 30k jobs