Oracle says new job losses are to 'balance resources' as cloud business grows

Vendor refuses to say whether or not UK employees will be affected

Oracle is making a wave of job cuts as it continues to reshape its business for a cloud-first approach, according to reports.

The cuts were first reported by IEEE Spectrum, with Oracle seemingly confirming the rumours.

In a statement Oracle said: "As our cloud business grows, we will continually balance our resources and restructure our development group to help ensure we have the right people delivering the best cloud products to our customers around the world."

CRN asked Oracle if any UK jobs would be affected, but was told that regional guidance will not be provided.

Oracle has not revealed how many employees will be cut, but anecdotal information posted on thelayoff.com - which provides a platform for people affected by redundancy - gives wide-ranging estimates of the potential casualties total.

Speculation at the higher end claims that over 10,000 redundancies will be made worldwide.

A post on The Layoff also claims to display an email from Oracle's cloud VP Don Johnson, outlining the rationale behind the cuts.

The note says that the changes mean Oracle's cloud organisation will "better align with Larry's vision of the business".

"It will streamline our products and services, focus investments on our most strategic priorities, and help us to more effectively and rapidly deliver the full promise and reach of Oracle's Gen 2 Cloud," the note adds.

The cloud business of publicly listed Oracle has been harder to assess since the vendor changed its reporting method last year - meaning specific cloud numbers are no longer broken out.

Oracle rival SAP, meanwhile, announced its own job cuts earlier this year, with 4,400 of its 96,500 employees set to leave as part of a restructure.