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The world's second largest software company is among several reportedly considering some of the largest job cuts ever seen in the industry.

Oracle is reportedly considering staff cuts of up to 10% of its 86,000-strong staff worldwide, although the company is presently declining to confirm the actual numbers.

The software company has already shed 500 positions in its US sales and consulting arm, according to a Wall Street Journal article quoting “people familiar with the matter”, while further losses are being reported by staff across all business sectors.

If more cuts are to follow, many will likely be former employees of middleware firm BEA which Oracle acquired for $8.5 billion in April last year, given that a filing to the SEC on December 22 claimed the company plans to spend total of $148 million on severance packages for BEA staff.

Oracle reported a net income of $1.3 billion in its second quarter earnings results released in December, down 0.5% on the previous year. The company largely matched Wall Street estimates through aggressive cost-cutting, including travel expenses and research and development.

Oracle is not the only major software company to fall victim to the job loss rumour mill. Microsoft is reportedly considering cuts of up to 15,000 staff, to be announced in the next few weeks, while an independent site for IBM employees has claimed up to 16,000 jobs may be at risk at the systems giant.

Anxious to minimise the bad publicity attached to dramatic job cuts, the software giants may opt to shed jobs in waves to try and stay under the radar, or alternatively bide their time hoping to ride on the coattails of a competitor.

Further reading:

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