Mass firings by e-mail attributed to anonymous executives is how we do HR now. Billy MacInnes is unimpressed
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Larry Ellison, Oracle
“We are sharing some difficult news regarding your position.”
That’s how people get fired now. With the tap of a finger on ‘send’.
“After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organisational change. As a result, today is your last working day.”
No one knows for sure how many people received that e-mail, but estimates range as high as 30,000 which means 30,000 people went to work in the morning not realising it was their last. But at least their departure was not unheralded.
“We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us.”
How’s that for a testimonial? But before we all start getting weepy-eyed and over-emotional, we better return to the business at hand.
“After signing your termination paperwork, you will be eligible to receive a severance package subject to the terms and conditions of the severance plan. You will receive an e-mail from DocuSign to your Oracle e-mail address with details on your severance and termination date.”
The very soon-to-be ex-employees were then told to provide a personal e-mail to “receive important follow-up information, including FAQs and separation documents to help you through this transition”.
Oracle also informed those affected that access to their computer, e-mail, voicemail, and files “will be deactivated soon, and you will be unable to log into your computer”, adding “Thank you for your contributions to our organisation.”
The e-mail was signed ‘Oracle Leadership’ which might be a little bit confusing to those people who traditionally view leadership as something provided by a leader, that is, one person. In Oracle’s case that might be co-founder, chairman of the board and CTO Larry Ellison – one of the world’s richest men. The company’s website gives a much larger cast of decision-makers.
Anyway, the consensus regarding the broad organisational change which has caused up to 30,000 people to lose their jobs is Oracle’s big plans to build data centres for AI. Apparently, cutting 30,000 people could free up as much as $8 billion to $10 billion for spending on AI.
Incidentally, the e-mail has been described as ‘brutal’ and it certainly lacks empathy, inviting suspicion that it may have been written by AI.
In any case, as Justin Wright noted in his Monday Momentum post on 16 March, Oracle planned to cut jobs not because they had been replaced by AI but “to fund AI infrastructure for other companies. Oracle’s capital expenditure guidance for fiscal year 2026 hit $50 billion, up from $21.2 billion in 2025 and $6.9 billion in 2024. That includes commitments from a $156 billion OpenAI deal requiring 3 million GPUs over five years. US banks have retreated from financing the buildout, doubling Oracle’s borrowing costs. The layoffs aren’t just about AI making employees redundant, they’re actually about finding cash to build data centres”.
At a basic level, this seems a perfectly reasonable explanation. If you want to invest big in the future, you need to make related savings somewhere else to free up the resources you require. It’s all a question of risk and reward. The problem is that, for the most part, the gigantic rewards being promised by AI have overwhelmed any consideration of the risks involved. This may well be changing now.
The hype around technology means it can often appear less subject to the effects of gravity than many other more stolid, solid industries. But money is money and it has a habit of bringing everything back down to earth, either softly or with a bang. Back in the 90s, the film Jerry Maguire popularised the saying “Show me the money” and there are some companies out there who may end up being confronted with the same question and find themselves sharing some difficult news regarding their position.