A Chinese business portal reported the news of the layoffs.
According to a media outlet from that country, Oracle will close a research and development center in China. This, added to that of other sectors, will cause the dismissal of more than 900 people. The publication cites Oracle's director of human resources for Asia and the Pacific as a source. Although still no one from the company has issued on the subject.
The information could be confirmed by other Chinese media who were able to speak with Oracle employees and people familiar with the situation. Among those affected by the layoffs, 500 are from Oracle's R&D center in Beijing. This is equivalent to just over 30% of the personnel dedicated to research that the company has in the Asian country. It is not known to which sector the other 400 correspond.
About us offered a voluntary retirement plan equivalent to six salaries per year worked to those who agree to resign before May 22. But, according to social networks, the proposal does not seem to have been well received by those laid off. A lots of Employees affected by the layoff plans have gathered to protest for the withdrawal of Oracle from China. They used slogans like "High profits, why are there still layoffs?" or "Leave politics out of technology."
More layoffs in the United States
However, the trade conflict between China and the United States, does not seem to be the cause of the problem. Oracle is also planning layoffs in the United States. In March, it announced that it would release more than 350 people from its US R&D center..
At the time, a spokesperson stated:
As our cloud business grows, we will continually balance our resources and restructure our development group to help ensure we have the right people to deliver the best cloud products to our customers around the world. "
The American company has been operating in China for two decades, has 14 branches, five R&D centers and has almost 5.000 employees in the country. Its Asia Pacific division represents about 16% of the company's total revenue. However, In a market dominated by Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, China Telecom and AWS, it is still a small player.