Layoffs described as “huge” that hit “all departments” at Oracle’s operations in Morrisville on Tuesday have cost a lot of former Tekelec workers their jobs, but Oracle refuses to comment.
“We will decline comment,” an Oracle spokesperson said when contacted by WRAL TechWire. “Thank you.”
The global high-tech giant is undergoing a restructuring that has led to some 2,900 layoffs to date, according to The Layoff website, which tracks job cuts.
More than 500 cuts have been made within the last week, according to the site.
WRAL TechWire learned about the Morrisville cuts from reader tips.
The Layoff and the San Jose Mercury News first reported Oracle’s cost-cutting moves on Jan. 23. The initial focus was on Oracle’s server hardware business.
According to The Layoff, some 239 cuts have been made in Oracle’s global communications business unit in recent days.
Oracle purchased Tekelec for an estimated $1 billion in 2013, seeking to build on Tekelec’s communications expertise, products, and a host of patents.
No layoff notice has been filed with the State of North Carolina as off Wednesday morning, according to a department spokesperson.
In the original layoffs last month, The San Joes Mercury News cited a letter from the company about layoffs that was sent to the state of California.
“Oracle is refocusing its Hardware Systems business, and for that reason, has decided to lay off certain of its employees in the Hardware Systems Division,” the letter said.
Some 450 people were expected to lose their jobs.
Oracle bought Sun’s server/hardware/chip business for some $7.4 billion in 2010.
Wall Street reaction
News of the job cuts was greeted positively on Wall Street.
UBS restated its “Buy” rating on the stock.
According to StreetInsider, analyst Brent Hill wrote:
“Earlier, Fortune/San Jose Mercury News reported ORCL has downsized its hardware unit workforce, with estimates ranging from 450-1800 FTEs. This puts in motion CFO Catz’s F2Q17 earnings call commentary around the “proactive” evaluation of opex supporting the on-premise hardware segment, in light of the declines it has seen over a multi-year period. ORCL’s hardware products business is -7% on a 3-yr CAGR basis and has shrunk by 44% to $2.5B since FY11, the first full year following the Jan’10 Sun acquisition. While the headcount reductions are in small scale relative to ORCL’s 140K+ worldwide FTE base, the restructuring makes sense in the context of what we see as a secularly declining business with UBSe forecasting mid-teens declines thru FY19.”
