Mass layoffs hit Salesforce after Oracle, fuelling fears of deeper tech cuts

Two enterprise giants have shed thousands of jobs worldwide, highlighting the cost of AI and cloud transitions in a turbulent tech economy.

Oracle and Salesforce, two of the world’s largest enterprise software companies, are cutting thousands of jobs as they reshape operations around artificial intelligence and cloud services, according to multiple reports.

The Times of India reported that Oracle has shed more than 3,000 jobs globally in recent weeks. The cuts span the United States, India, Canada, the Philippines and Europe, with state filings in California and Washington confirming hundreds of affected roles. The reductions cover cloud infrastructure, enterprise software and corporate functions, pointing to a broad restructuring rather than targeted redundancies. Some employee groups believe the eventual number could climb much higher, though the company has not confirmed totals.

Salesforce, meanwhile, confirmed the elimination of around 4,000 customer support positions, Reuters reported. The company said its AI-driven Agentforce platform is now handling close to half of customer interactions, reducing the need for human support agents. Local media in San Francisco and Washington state cited filings showing more than 350 staff were cut in those two regions alone. Chief executive Marc Benioff told investors the company was reallocating resources toward AI and data-driven products to sustain growth.

A Salesforce spokesperson added further detail: “At the start of this year we deployed help.agentforce.com. Because of the benefits and efficiencies of Agentforce, we’ve seen the number of support cases we handle decline, and we no longer need to actively backfill support engineer roles. We’ve successfully redeployed hundreds of employees into other areas like professional services, sales, and customer success.”

The layoffs underline a pattern across the technology sector. Companies that expanded aggressively during the pandemic are now trimming back, even as they channel unprecedented capital into artificial intelligence. Microsoft has cut more than 15,000 roles since May while pledging tens of billions of dollars in new AI infrastructure. Amazon, T-Mobile and others have also announced repeated reductions this year.

Oracle’s decision comes despite solid financial results. The company recently reported an 8% rise in revenue and strong stock performance, the Wall Street Journal noted, yet management pressed ahead with job cuts in pursuit of efficiency and to align with new strategic priorities. Salesforce, for its part, delivered quarterly revenue growth of 10% but issued a weaker forecast, signalling caution over the pace of AI monetisation.

Employee reactions have been unsettled. Oracle workers described shock at the breadth of the restructuring, particularly in teams viewed as growth drivers. At Salesforce, staff groups said they were concerned by the speed with which AI was displacing traditional roles, even as the company moved to redeploy some employees into professional services and sales.

The wider implications are significant. Enterprise technology firms employ millions worldwide, and their employment strategies often set benchmarks across the digital economy. If the path taken by Oracle and Salesforce becomes a template, the next phase of tech employment may be defined less by mass hiring and more by selective redeployment, with AI acting as both disruptor and driver of demand.

For now, the message is blunt. As companies pivot toward AI-first strategies, jobs once considered core are being pared back. How leaders balance the gains from automation with the human cost of restructuring will be closely watched by employees, investors and regulators alike.