Several Oracle employees started this week by receiving emails informing them that they have been laid off as part of a new round of job cuts.

The enterprise software giant undertook its latest layoffs on Monday, September 14, according to a report by Business Insider. Affected employees have been offered four weeks’ base salary and an additional week’s salary for every year of employment.

While the number of those affected is unclear, several Oracle staffers took to LinkedIn, Reddit, and Blind, an anonymous workplace community platform, claiming that they have been impacted by the latest round of cuts, which has been attributed to “broader organisational change” underway at the company.

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The move comes a month after Oracle was first reported to have drawn up plans for a new round of job cuts to reduce payroll as it racks up billions in debt to fund AI infrastructure. The planned cuts reached double-digit percentages on some teams.

“After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day,” Oracle was quoted as saying in emails to laid-off employees on Monday.

The cloud infrastructure provider has racked up tens of billions of dollars in debt to build data centres, betting on increasing demand for AI. As per its latest earnings report, Oracle’s first-quarter capital expenditures surged to $28.5 billion, up from $8.5 billion a year earlier. Its fiscal 2027 capital expenditure has been forecast at $90 billion to $95 billion. The report also had some positive signs, including cloud growth.

However, investors do not appear convinced that Oracle’s bet on AI demand will pay off. Shares of the company have taken a beating this year on growing investor concerns over soaring ‌capital expenditure that has pressured its free cash flow. Analysts estimate that a recovery in cash flow could be some way off.

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Earlier this year, Oracle laid off 21,000 employees or 13 per cent of its workforce, according to a recent filing. It had around 141,000 employees before this current round of cuts, according to the company.

Larry Ellison cancels trading plan

Oracle’s most recent quarterly filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, September 11, revealed that its executive chair, Larry Ellison, had set up a new trading plan through which he would sell up to 50 million of his 1.158 billion Oracle shares before October 24, this year.

Such a sale would have marginally reduced Ellison’s stake in Oracle from 38 per cent to 36.7 per cent while making him about $7.5 billion richer.

However, Ellison abruptly cancelled his trading plan the next day. “No Oracle stock was sold under that plan, and he has no other plans to sell ​any of ​his Oracle stock,” Oracle said in a statement on Saturday, without giving a specific reason for ⁠the cancellation of Ellison’s trading plan.

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Ellison served as Oracle’s CEO until 2014 and ⁠is ‌the company’s largest shareholder, according to LSEG ‌data.