Oracle cutting more Sun jobs; software maker plans new round of post-acquisition layoffs

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Oracle cutting more Sun jobs

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oracle Corp. is cutting more jobs as part of its takeover of slumping computer-server maker Sun Microsystems.

Oracle, the world’s biggest database-software maker, said in a regulatory filing Friday that the new round of cuts would mostly hit employees in Asia and Europe.

It didn’t specify how many employees would be laid off. But it did say the new restructuring would be at least twice as expensive as the one Oracle initiated immediately after closing the Sun deal in January.

The new cuts will cost Oracle $675 million to $825 million. The previous cuts, which are ongoing, will cost an estimated $325 million.

Affected employees started to get notified May 28.

Oracle declined further comment. Oracle had 106,492 workers as of the end of February.

Sun had already cut deeply before Oracle took it over.

Last October, while the $7.4 billion takeover was being held up over antitrust concerns in Europe, Sun announced plans to jettison 10 percent of its work force, or up to 3,000 jobs. It had already cut 7,600 workers in three previous rounds of layoffs.

When Oracle was allowed to consummate the deal in January, its CEO, Larry Ellison, said he planned to hire more people for the Sun businesses than he would fire in the first few months after the acquisition. He estimated the Sun layoffs in that period would be about 1,000 workers.

The deal was a lifeline for Sun, one of the world’s biggest server makers whose losses were mounting, and a way for Oracle, one of the world’s biggest business-software makers, to challenge IBM Corp. in more markets.