Oracle Layoffs Coming?

I got this from a source who is usually pretty reliable on all things Oracle. Personally, I'm inclined to think that there is reason to believe this rumor given their financial performance and the redundancy that all of the acquisitions have created.

• No developers are being hired in the U.S., all new hires are in India. See update below.
• As many as 7,000 developers in the U.S. could be laid off. The bulk of these layoffs will come from JDE and PSFT ranks as they are no longer eligible for large severence payouts (been over a year since the deal closed). Oracle's CRM group is also a target, which I suppose isn't that surprising.
• The bulk of the layoffs will happen in Feb.
• Large group in the Siebel FG&A group will be let go when that acquisition closes. About 16% of the total Siebel workforce will be let go.
• Severence for Siebel employees will be 6 months, Oracle folks will get 1 week for each year of service.
• No layoffs in sales, support, or consulting.

Also, a couple of weeks ago I heard another rumor that the Oracle Discover and BI teams were being "decimated" to make the way for Siebel Analytics to become the flagship offering operating as a standalone business unit under Larry Barbetta reporting directly to Chuck Phillips.

I always take these rumors with a grain of salt but in this case I think there are some fundamental business realities driving Oracle to consider these actions, if it's true. Lastly, any layoffs of this size are bound to spike the stock I would think... maybe Jason could provide his take.

UPDATE: I got an email today from someone who pointed out that Oracle is hiring in the U.S. Based on this tip, which is credible, I am going to modify the above slightly.

Technorati Tags: oracle, layoffs, siebel

Comments

[Aaron]

7,000 developers? I highly doubt it. Out of 50K employees, if 20K are developers---do you really think 35% of the developers will get the ax. At JDE there are probally not more then 500 developers max. Where are the remaining 6,500 coming from.

[jeff]

Hey I have no idea, it would be best to ask Oracle directly.

Please note that I wrote in my post "I'm inclined to take all rumors with a grain of salt".

[AB]

Jeff,

If Oracle was to fire developers in that big numbers, then definitely it would not have resources for fusion etc.

of 50K employees even if half 25K are developers, 7k ( 28%?) numbers are way too huge.Plus take a look at history.. at oracle usually the Sales teams go first ;o)

Maybe you need to reduce all those good incentives to your "source"

[bhargav]

hello

I don't think Oracle will carry such a huge layoff esp when they r venturing into new packages like Fusion.Even if there is an axe,it wont b on the developers who r very much required to successfully complete the longing project in time.They desperately need to bring in new products to retain their stake in market.

[jeff]

I think the number is really high as well, of course if you took out 16% of Siebel that would be 1k people alone.

I disagree about not letting developers go simply because they can't afford to RIF revenue generating headcount, sales/consulting, and their support groups are under a microscope by the marketplace.

Fusion is supposedly "halfway there" so it stands to reason that where they are prioritizing development is shifting from tools to apps, and at the same time they are adding headcount in India aggressively.

In the end it may not be a hard 7k cut, but a much lower headcount reduction combined with a repositioning of resources offshore.

[paul mads]

Well, guess what guys, it is happening as we speak across applications - air will clear by tomorrow.

[jeff]

yeah, I guess they have a press conference scheduled for this afternoon. Interesting, I'll post an update later.