Oracle’s layoff wave is back in focus after the company named Hilary Maxson as its new chief financial officer on April 6, effective immediately. The move came days after Oracle fired up to 30, 000 employees by a 6 a. m. email, and former workers are now questioning how the cuts were made. Some of those questions center on whether the layoff decisions may have focused on employees with outstanding stock options.
New CFO package lands as layoff questions spread
Oracle filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing Maxson’s appointment. The filing says Maxson, 48, previously served as executive vice president and group CFO at Schneider Electric, and before that spent 12 years at AES Corporation in senior finance, strategy and M& A roles.
Her compensation package includes a $950, 000 annual base salary, a performance-based bonus target of $2. 5 million, and up to $250, 000 in relocation costs over 12 months. The centerpiece is a grant valued at $26 million under Oracle’s Amended and Restated 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, with 80% time-based and 20% performance-based awards.
The time-based portion vests over four years on a front-loaded schedule, while the performance equity vests over three years ending May 31, 2028, tied to revenue metrics. The timing of that package has sharpened attention on the company’s recent layoff decisions.
Employee pushback centers on stock awards
Nina Lewis, a security alert manager who spent more than 30 years at Oracle, wrote on LinkedIn that the cuts appeared to “follow an algorithm of high level individual contributors and mid-level managers — especially those with outstanding stock options. ” Lewis later clarified that she had “NO specific inside knowledge of any layoff algorithm, ” but said rumors among employees “appear to match what we see around us as a possible pattern. ” She added: “there must be some system/algorithm if you are laying off 30k people. ”
Under Oracle’s severance terms, employees who were cut had their unvested restricted stock units forfeited immediately upon termination. Vested stock remained accessible through Fidelity. That detail has become central to the debate around the layoff process.
Oracle has not addressed the criticism
Oracle declined to comment when contacted. The company’s silence leaves open questions from former employees who are watching the layoff fallout unfold in real time.
The company also posted a 95% net income jump last quarter to $6. 13 billion, while remaining performance obligations reached $130 billion in Q3 and total RPO hit $553 billion. Those figures provide a stark backdrop to the staffing cuts and the new compensation package now drawing scrutiny.
What comes next
The immediate focus is likely to stay on how Oracle chose who to cut and whether more details emerge from employees or filings. For now, the layoff debate is being driven by official disclosures, severance terms, and the comments of a long-time Oracle employee who says the pattern looks systematic.
