Oracle slashes 2 percent of workforce

Oracle, which last week met Wall Street's lowered third-quarter earnings expectations, said on Tuesday it plans to cut roughly 866 jobs, or 2 percent of its workforce, in an attempt to reduce costs amid a slowing economy.

Oracle chairman and chief executive Larry Ellison had warned last week that the company would resort to layoffs if needed. "We are looking at controlling our costs, one way is to manage headcount," Ellison said during a conference call.

"Based on current business conditions, at this time the company expects to reduce our worldwide workforce by about 1 to 2 percent through normal attrition and regular business performance assessments," said Stacey Elise Torman, an Oracle spokeswoman.

Oracle last week reported net income of $582.7m, or 10 cents per share. During the same period last year, the company earned $763.2m, or 13 cents per share, including investment gains.

Earlier this month, Ellison issued a profit warning for its fiscal third quarter, reducing anticipated earnings from 12 to 10 cents per share.

Last week, Oracle executives warned that the slowing economy is hampering database and e-business software sales and that Oracle would fall short of expectations this current quarter.

Oracle shares lost 1 1/16, or 6.88 percent, to end the day at 14 3/8.

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