Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) is navigating a turbulent period of mass layoffs and aggressive AI investment, with its new CFO drawing a sharp line against a phrase common in corporate cost-cutting conversations.
The company’s workforce shrank by 21,000 employees, representing a 13% decline, during the fiscal year that ended May 31, 2026.
CFO Hilary Maxson addressed staff in an all-hands town hall held just one day after Oracle initiated a fresh round of workforce reductions following earlier cuts this year.
Maxson, who joined Oracle from French industrial conglomerate Schneider Electric where she previously held the same CFO role, was direct in rejecting familiar austerity language.
“I don’t mean doing more with less, which is a phrase that I really, really don’t like,” Maxson told employees, framing the cuts instead as a matter of strategic prioritization and process simplification.
Her full remarks drew a distinction between blunt cost reduction and deliberate resource allocation, emphasizing outcomes for customers rather than headcount metrics.
“It means simplifying processes that don’t help customers and making clear choices on where we’re going to use our resources where they have the greatest impact,” Maxson said during the town hall.
Neither Maxson nor other executives addressed the layoffs directly during the roughly hour-long session, instead focusing on growth, customer demand, and artificial intelligence opportunity.
Co-CEO Mike Sicilia offered employees a reorienting mantra as Oracle entered its second quarter, urging staff to stay focused on customer outcomes amid broader uncertainty.
“I’d ask you to keep asking a very simple question: How does the work that I’m doing help deliver a better outcome for a customer?” Sicilia said during the all-hands meeting.
Sicilia also acknowledged the broader environment weighing on the workforce, noting that collective behavior during periods of disruption carries particular significance.
“There’s a lot of change around this, a lot going on in the world, and in moments like this, how we work together and how we show up for our customers and for each other matters most,” he said.
The layoffs are intended to reduce payroll costs that have mounted as Oracle expands its data center and AI infrastructure footprint at an unprecedented pace.
Oracle has projected $50 billion in capital expenditures for its fiscal year ending in May, more than double its spending from the prior fiscal year, as it races to build out AI data center capacity.
The company disclosed in a March regulatory filing that total restructuring costs for fiscal year 2026 could reach as high as $2.1 billion, with most of those expenses tied to employee severance and related costs.
Maxson, 48, will receive an annual base salary of $950,000 and is eligible for a performance-based bonus with a target of $2.5 million, according to a regulatory filing Oracle submitted at the time of her appointment.
