661
AI bet goes awry: Oracle fires 21,000 employees (www.jpost.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
151 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 97 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 163 points 3 months ago (40 children)

Couldn't happen to a better group of companies. Let them all beg for bailouts and be denied.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 40 child comments
    •
  • [–] 147 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    and be denied

    Maybe under a sane leadership, certainly not now. Trump will give them a bailout and a shipping container full of "deported" teenagers.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 52 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Even Obama handed out bailouts like candy. No chance this admin doesn't.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 26 points 3 months ago

    I mean that’s one of the big draws of capitalism right? Much of the state’s power is derived from its elite oligarchy and their industrial contributions, in exchange for basically having a blind eye turned to anything they want.

    When you allow structure of such importance to exist as a business, you balance your house on toothpicks.

    Therefore, you can allow them to snap and tumble your whole home down a cliff; or you can treat them as part of the state (but, only when they need it. To keep up appearances.)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 41 points 3 months ago (32 children)

    While I agree with the anti Oracle sentiment, that’s 21,000 employees that didn’t say they wanted AI BS. The suits and ceos that do this aren’t the ones that pay the price. It’s always the ordinary people like you and I.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 32 child comments
    •
  • [+] -8 points 3 months ago (28 children)

    I don't think employees can really be separated from the company mission. They might not be the ones who benefit the most, but they still receive some benefit in exchange for producing the outcome.

    People resign from roles on ideological grounds all the time.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 28 child comments
    •
  • [–] 31 points 3 months ago (23 children)

    We’re still throwing out morality platitudes on tech workers as we’ve watched since COVID as the tech sector at all levels has bled jobs, senior staff looking for positions for 2-3 years in some cases.

    It’s impossible out there. I have moral objections to the way my company operates too but if I quit now my family will lose everything. I mean thankfully I’m not exactly crushing orphans in the orphan crushing machine but in a sane market I would look for something a little more aligned with my personal ideals. However just like buying a stick of RAM for a reasonable price, it just ain’t happening right now.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 23 child comments
    •
  • [–] -1 points 3 months ago (22 children)

    It depends on the level of your objection I guess.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 22 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (21 children)

    "My family's homeless but at least I'm not working for a corporation anymore"

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 21 child comments
    •
  • [–] -3 points 3 months ago (19 children)

    "I chose a job that I find satisfying even though I could earn more if I sold out"

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 19 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (16 children)

    You're still part of the corporate machine if you work at Walmart or McDonald's, they won't pay you enough to feed your family and I doubt the job is satisfying.

    Like you do realise it was standard operating procedure in the US tech scene to apply for at least 400-500 jobs BEFORE the layoff craze that's lasted years now, right?

    It's different in my country but it took me 3 whole months to find a new job when unemployed which was pretty bad compared to my previous experience. A bit later it took my friend a YEAR to get a new job. Now their boss is saying every engineer should be providing at least 3x value to customers using AI and they have no option but to stay at this job because nobody is hiring.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 16 child comments
    •
  • [–] -3 points 3 months ago (15 children)

    What do you want me to say?

    "Its ok pet. Your kids will be forgive you."

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (14 children)

    I suggest you try going and being homeless with your kid so you don't have to work for any corporation.

    They'll be happier that way, then there's no forgiveness to seek since you never failed them by working for a corporation.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 14 child comments
    •
  • [–] -1 points 3 months ago (13 children)

    False dichotomy.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 13 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (10 children)

    No it's not, because you're advocating for people to be unemployed in an increasingly horrible job market.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (9 children)

    I'm not advocating for people to be unemployed, you made that up.

    Loads of people have jobs that align with their values.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (8 children)

    Mate, I know people who are having trouble finding jobs at shops, let alone anything that pays enough for an adult with responsibilities to be able to afford to take it.

    How many small businesses do you think are hiring these days?

    You're incredibly privileged if you think everyone can just afford to do whatever it is you do that you don't benefit a single corporation. I assume you're an artisan who crafts something out of materials you get from your own land or something.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (5 children)

    I never said anything about not benefiting a corporation - you seem to have imagined that.

    Some corporations have shit objectives, others do not.

    There are loads of people who work for companies and really believe they're making the world a better place through their work.

    You're trying to present an argument that you need to work for an AI company or whatever to put food on the table, but it just doesn't stack up. Plenty of people are not starving and are not doing that for a living.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    Some corporations have shit objectives, others do not.

    The objective of a corporation is to make money. Doesn't really matter which corporation.

    There are loads of people who work for companies and really believe they’re making the world a better place through their work.

    And most of them would be wrong I'm sure. They're just making profit for a corporation. I'm sure most OpenAI and Anthropic employees also feel like they're making the world a better place.

    I've had exactly one job in my life that wasn't software engineering. I was definitely making the world a better place, as I reduced e-waste generation by tons upon tons. Specifically, I fixed thousands of laptops slated for landfill, many of them fairly new and high spec so they'd get several years of usage after refurbishing.

    What did I get in return? Poverty, timed piss breaks so I'd hit my targets (since nearly half of the already low salary was paid out as a "bonus" - after I left they raised salaries to keep up with minimum wage increases, but then reduced the bonus so they wouldn't actually have to pay people more). The owners were also unhappy that the profit margin was only 55%, they wanted to see 60% profit margin. Probably so they could sell the company for even more money. This was a 3 year old company making over a hundred million in revenue... On a 55% profit margin. Renting a studio apartment was about half my income, utilities included.

    Every job since then has been a tech job of one type or another. None of them AI companies, but it doesn't really matter if you're doing payroll, healthcare, whatever. Ultimately you're just doing your job so some rich dude can buy another yacht, or so that the owner's wife could sell the company to a private equity company after nagging her husband into suicide because he didn't want to sell but she wanted to retire. And I DO work for a small company now, as a contractor, but you won't believe the insane luck and circumstances that got me into this job when layoffs were already happening everywhere.

    And I live in a mostly sane country where you can still theoretically get by on a job doing whatever. Now imagine you're in Silicon Valley, earning 200-300k a year, paying a mortgage on a tiny house that cost well over a million, and your options for getting a new job are McDonald's, Walmart and whatever other stores are shit enough to work for that they're always looking for people, which are now paying a super high wage of $20 an hour because California. You still sure you want to change jobs?

    Only way to get out without ending up homeless is literally to save up for multiple years working in that job you hate. Golden handcuffs pretty much.

    Do try to remember that it usually takes years to get into another field of skilled work and you start at the bottom of the ladder, making shit wages and not everyone can just share a small apartment with roommates, some people have families

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    This is just the same false dichotomy you've been presenting all the way along: starve or sell out.

    The undeniable and obvious fact you're avoiding is that loads of people have jobs that they find satisfying in a "life well lived" kind of way. There are loads of corporations who's employees believe in what they're doing.

    Your timed piss break anecdote is not an example of a satisfying job. A job where you make minimum wage is not an example of a satisfying job.

    It doesn't take years to get into another field, and you don't start at the start because you take all your skills and experience with you, obviously. I'm in my 40s, young family, working on a postgraduate degree in something tangentially related to the field I've been working in for 20 years. I do find my current job satisfying, I'm just weary of it. People can and do change professions all the time.

    Objectively, this is very much a case of "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas".

    Like I said at the start, you don't get a free pass just because you're not a CEO.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    "Hurr durr I'm incredibly privileged and the job market has been kind to me so it'll be kind to everyone"

    You realize that most people can't just drop everything they're doing and get a degree, right? And a lot of people have jobs that require them to actually be present more than a few hours a week so they can't do it while staying employed either?

    A bachelor's degree alone takes three years. Then you're gonna have an internship at some point before anyone even considers you able to do a job in another field. How is that "doesn't take years to get into another field"?

    The undeniable and obvious fact you’re avoiding is that loads of people have jobs that they find satisfying in a “life well lived” kind of way.

    And there are billions in the world who don't have that.

    There are loads of corporations who’s employees believe in what they’re doing.

    Yea, but they're still working for a corporation. They're all still contributing to the same machine, doesn't matter if they're directly working for a tech company or not.

    Your timed piss break anecdote is not an example of a satisfying job. A job where you make minimum wage is not an example of a satisfying job.

    It was an example of a job where you actually do good for the world. That's what those kinds of jobs are like. You get abused to pieces because the company has a noble mission so you're more likely to stay around. This btw was considered to be head and shoulders above the company it metastasized out of (founders of the original company sold it and had their family members start up a competitor so their noncompetes wouldn't matter, then everyone got laid off a while later by the new owners). It now employs 500 people, or about 0.5% of the city's population if you include pensioners, children and everything.

    I've heard of tons of problems with so many other companies in other industries too. Not paying salaries on time or at all, closing down with zero notice when the owner moves abroad and transfers everything out of the company bank accounts so nobody can be paid their last salaries or severance, forcing people to work unpaid overtime... Tons of small businesses pay you in cash so they can save on tax, but that means you don't get national health insurance or pension contributions...

    Quite literally, the job market out there is shit, getting worse every year. You should count yourself lucky that you're in an industry where you can just hop into a tangential industry and have skills carry over, or that your job affords you enough free time to get a degree, or that you're not working for capitalists. Gratz, it's a one in a million job you found yourself in, same as me. But the thing about one in a million jobs is that there are only a few thousand of them in the world.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    IDK how you ended up feeling so trapped, but honestly most people believe that their job contributes something positive to the world.

    All I can do is encourage you to re-evaluate your assumptions and find a way out.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I've resigned on ideological grounds twice. It's hard to do, especially if you don't have a safety net or savings to tide you over until your next job. That being said, I think that executive pay should be reduced to compensate for job losses (as a payout to all the people who got fired) anytime shit like this happens. Make the C suite take accountability for their gambles.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    I 100% agree if we're talking about employees with the capacity to earn more than a living wage.

    You can't tie people to the actions of the company they're working for if they're living paycheck to paycheck.

    Employees in the tech sector can absolutely afford to not work at Oracle or Flock or any one of the other antihuman shitholes like them. For a lot of these people all it took for them to sell their morality was a chance to make six figures.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 25 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah no they’re 100% gonna get bailed out. All they have to do is kiss the ring and they’re golden.

    But fuck all of us, I guess.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
    • [–] 154 points 3 months ago* (17 children)

    I've worked in IT for close to 30 years and I've never met anyone with a good word to say about Oracle. I remember them being notorious for auditing their customers and nailing them to wall for even the slightest perceived infraction of their convoluted license agreements. I don't understand how they still exist.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 17 child comments
    •
  • [–] 50 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    JDK is the greatest scam ever.

    When something needs JDK, most people usually just download the first one they find without much thought, just like with any dependency, which is Oracle's, instead of OpenJDK.

    Oracle will go after companies where their employees unknowlingly installed their JDK for some minor thing, and hit them with multimillion fine for breaking their license after a while. Or at least I remember hearing they used to.

    Blocking anything Oracle company-wide, especially JDK, is the first thing an IT admin should do.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    A prior company I worked at had a compliance division whose work was about 80% Oracle. As in, their attention over preventing Oracle JRE installs in favour of Azul Java was 4× higher than ensuring anything Microsoft - or anything else under the sun, actually - was properly licensed.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    I got my first computer at 15, in 2005, and even then they were very clearly bad just from my newbie experience and seeing forums posts. The word itself is so tainted for me because of them. One of the companies that "enshittified" way ahead of the curve.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    They exist for the same reason McAfee exists. They're a CIA front.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Fr? Super interested do you know where I can read about this? :)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    There's relatively little information given how prominent these companies are. But the CIA was the first customer of both companies, and were most likely involved in their founding. Here's a article to get you started on Oracle: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/oracle-s-coziness-with-government-goes-back-to-2820370.php

    John McAfee claimed he never used McAfee VirusScan. He never said why but while on the run in Belize he said no one should use VirusScan. My wild guess is that it might be because it scans for lots of stuff that aren't in your interest as a user, and probably provides a convenient backdoor into your computer for certain people.

    If you want the weird stuff on Oracle there's a crazy woman who's obsessed with Larry Ellison that writes all kinds of things about him on a place called the Drey Dossier.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Yet they keep working for an evil company. They could have not done that. Had a little integrity. But no, so…

    Oh hey I’m from the future where you get judged harshly for where you choose to work.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 106 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I used to work for Oracle and this pleases me. Nobody should have to work for Oracle.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 69 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Start forcing users to use AI
    lose staff
    Fire staff so that AI can take over
    lose staff
    Find out AI can't replace the users, get devalued
    lose staff

    seems pretty toxic

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    My last day at a dumpster fire AI slop company is next week, and I can’t wait.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 47 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Jesus. This puts workers at, what, 150-200k laid off this year? Awful.

    But I do like that part about mandatory power grid guarantees. If we lived in a reasonable country that would be a federal regulation.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 17 points 3 months ago*

    let's just say $100k if there's the random custodial engineer in the mix. That $2.1 billion in salary. They reduced headcount 13% in 2025 and this would bea 15% from that. Probably cash strapped and about to go bust. Good.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 35 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    This shit is literally ruining the industry for developers/engineers.

    At least most of the ones I know and work with.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    it's ruining the industry right now. when the bubble bursts and the datacenters crater it will be a new golden era for farming!

    I know plenty of devs who just want to farm, or hunt, or build shit.

    I can't wait for the farming industry to be disrupted when 100,000 seasoned engineers descend upon companies like john deere. they'll be like a plague of locusts that will blot out the sun forever.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 11 points 3 months ago

    I've been of the opinion that Silicon Valley and tech in the US has effectively drawn in the very best of several countries and collectively robbed so many industries of some of the smartest people around.

    These people retraining or going back home and into other industries could be an economic boom in the making.

    🎯 1
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 31 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Imagine. Oracle not being relevant. The dream

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 28 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    And this was after they fired about 30,000 employees.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    So now they HAVE to double down and fund this AI infrastructure, because sunk costs dictate that they can’t admit to a bad decision and hire back the terminated employees.

    Just because it’s costly doesn’t mean they aren’t going to push forward with all their might, unfortunately

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    Anyone with sense still locked in to Oracle products needs to find their nearest exit strategy.

    I know it won't be easy, but the alternative is going to be a lot messier when they completely go to shit and you lose everything.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 27 points 3 months ago

    Last week we received the CPU (Critical Patch Update) for Oracle products, which is a list of strongly recommended patches. They issue 4 per year (end of January, April, July and October). ALL patches were late.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 24 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    No matter how much I try, all I see in this picture is Mel Brooks as President Skroob sniffing Air out of a can.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
    • [–] 23 points 3 months ago (6 children)

    Why does Larry Ellison give me such crazy uncanny valley vibes?! Is his head too long? Moustache too narrow? Generally too smooth? It has fucked me up all day scrolling past this image.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
    • [–] 21 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    To fund the rapid expansion, Oracle took aggressive efficiency measures and enacted a sweeping wave of layoffs. By the end of fiscal year 2026, the company's workforce was slashed by about 21,000 employees, a decline of roughly 13%, from 162,000 to 141,000 workers. The deep cuts followed an operational restructuring driven in part by the internal adoption of AI technologies.

    If I read this new article right, they're just talking about the layoffs from ORCL's March/April 2026, which was their last fiscal year, which ended May 31 2026. I think this is just repeating old news. Anyone else read it that way?

    As a result, Oracle is now required to provide cash collateral or a letter of credit in the astronomical sum of over $7 billion just to connect the building to the power grid, a setup whose ongoing maintenance will cost the company more than $100 million annually.

    That seems to be what this article really has for news and that's really funny, IMO. Go get 'em, Wisconsin.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    It is burying old news in headline. The consequences/pitfalls of their "strategic shift" are fairly new. The layoffs were explicitly justified for pivot to datacenters that OpenAI will "surely" be able to rent. The new extra problems in that strategic shift just makes them look worse for going all in on the bubble.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 21 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Imagine failing this hard at your job and keeping it.

    And I know his job is to keep the stock price high.. but 28 percent growth over the last five years in tech is still failing at your job.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
    • [–] 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    Fucking wild to read the article. Oracle got pissy because regulations said you can't just shove datacenter electricity costs on people.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 20 points 3 months ago

    You say that like it wasn't the goal

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Fire Larry and sell his stock and his yachts and you'll be in the black again.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • load more comments
    view more: next ›
    12 comments in c/hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se view that post
    12 comments in c/business@lemmy.world view that post