Oracle Laid Off Thousands More on Monday to Pay for the AI Data Centers It Is Building on Borrowed Money
About This Episode
Business Insider reported that Oracle began a new round of layoffs on September 14, telling staff by email that 'today is your last working day,' after cutting 21,000 jobs in its last fiscal year. The company is spending $28.5 billion a quarter on data centers, ran $5.4 billion of negative free cash flow, carries about $125 billion of debt, and expanded its restructuring plan by $700 million to $2.8 billion. It is a growing, profitable company converting payroll into compute.
Our Take
Oracle is a profitable, fast-growing company that just cut thousands more jobs, not because AI did their work, but to pay for the data centers it is building on borrowed money: the AI buildout is being financed by the workers before it has replaced them.
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