Layoffs hit Oracle UK

Oracle UK made 60 staff redundant last week as part of its promise to cut $1 billion from operating expenses. The software company shed the jobs from its consultancy team, where it had 1,400 staff. The move was part of Oracle's rejig to focus on the Internet and e-business, with jobs slashed in areas like client/server computing. Nick Barley, Oracle UK and Ireland VP of marketing, played down the redundancies. "It is the end of our financial year and we're looking at the structure of our business for the next financial year – we had already stated that we were looking to streamline business processes," said Barley in this week’s Microscope magazine. In June Oracle cut 325 jobs in the US - or one per cent of its workforce there - as part of its push towards increasing its business over the Internet. ®