A former Oracle employee accused the tech giant of targeting workers “with outstanding stock options” in a recent round of layoffs — as the company reportedly offered its new chief financial officer a juicy $26 million stock package.
A 30-year Oracle veteran recently took to LinkedIn as the Larry Ellison-led company laid off about 700 workers, with thousands of more cuts potentially in the offing.
“Well, after 30+ years at Oracle, I join the 30,000 or so laid off today. Quite a shock. Many of the absolute best colleagues were laid off as well,” Nina Lewis wrote.
“It seems (BUT I DON’T KNOW), maybe, layoffs follow an algorithm of high level individual contributors and mid-level managers – especially those with outstanding stock options,” she continued.
“Not sure what to do next, if anything. Open to ideas,” Lewis concluded with a smile emoticon.
Laid-off employees immediately forfeited their unvested stock, according to Marketwise, though their vested stock remained accessible.
Lewis clarified in a follow-up post that she had “NO specific inside knowledge of any layoff algorithm” but that rumors circulating among employees “appear to match what we see around us as a possible pattern.”
“Again, I have no inside knowledge of any ‘hidden algorithm’, although there must be some system/algorithm if you are laying off 30k people,” she added.
Other former employees voiced similar suspicions on workplace forums like Blind and TheLayoff.com, with some claiming they were laid off shortly before upcoming vesting dates.
Oracle senior manager Michael Shepherd wrote on LinkedIn that the layoffs were “not performance based.”
“I really dont [sic] have anything else to add besides the people laid off, it was not performance related, we lost some of the most experienced, critical people. If I say anything else it wouldn’t be good for my career at Oracle,” he told the Post in a Monday email.
The company recently detailed a first batch of layoffs, with 700 workers expected to lose their jobs by June 1. Oracle was set to cut 310 workers in Redwood City, 184 in Santa Clara, 158 in Pleasanton and 50 in Santa Monica, according to California state records.
Analysts at investment bank TD Cowen predicted earlier this year that Oracle could cut up to 30,000 workers and sell some of its assets amid a push to finance AI infrastructure projects. They said those layoffs could free up $8 to $10 billion in cash flow.
The cuts come as Oracle filed for about 3,126 petitions to employ H-1B workers in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data, drawing outrage.
Earlier this month, the company hired Hilary Maxson as its new CFO.
Her compensation package includes a $26 million stock package on top of her $950,000 annual base salary, according to Marketwise.
Maxson, 48, previously served as executive vice president and led finance at energy giant Schneider Electric.
She’s Oracle’s first CFO since 2014, when Safra Catz took on the roles of both CEO and main financial officer, Marketwise noted.
Oracle reported a 95% increase in net income last quarter to $6.13 billion. The company is investing heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure, with $50 billion in capital expenditures planned for the current fiscal year. It has also taken on more than $100 billion in debt to finance the buildout.
