Oracle To Axe Sun Workforce, Again

Oracle is make more job cuts from its European and Asian workforces, following its protracted acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

The news emerged after Oracle made an amended 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in which Oracle said that it had reached the decision following a meeting on 10 May to reduce the size of the combined Oracle-Sun workforce.

How Many?

No numbers are mentioned in the filing, but Oracle said the amendment to its plans would cost between $675m (£465m) and $825m (£570m), suggesting that the cuts could involve many thousands of jobs.

“The amendment further reduces the size of Oracle’s combined workforce primarily in Europe and Asia, eliminates redundant costs resulting from the acquisition of Sun and reflects improved efficiencies in operations,” the filing reads.

Affected staff members were apparently being notified from 28 May.

Workforce Pain

Oracle’s acquisition of Sun had triggered fears that as much as half of Sun’s 33,000 strong workforce last year would be axed.

Sun had already reduced its headcount by 6,000 in November 2008, when former Sun president and chief executive officer Jonathan Schwartz was secretly trying to sell the company to IBM. And then in October 2009 it was revealed that 3,000 more jobs would be axed.

It is thought that when Oracle finally closed the deal in January 2010, Sun had a total workforce of approximately 24,400 employees.

Oracle is currently in its ‘quiet period’ as it prepares to report its Q4 and year-end financial results on 24 June, and it is expected that it will outline the scale of the job cuts then.