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Days after Oracle fired up to 30,000 employees via a 6 a.m. email — as Moneywise previously reported — the company announced its next big move: hiring a new chief financial officer with a $26 million stock package.

Meanwhile, some laid-off workers have raised questions on LinkedIn and workplace forums about how Oracle chose who to cut.

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For example, one 30-year veteran is suggesting the company may have targeted employees with outstanding stock options. Here’s a breakdown of the new deal, and some of the pushback from former employees.

On April 6, Oracle filed a Form 8-K with the SEC announcing Hilary Maxson as its new chief financial officer, effective immediately (1). Maxson, 48, previously served as executive vice president and group CFO at Schneider Electric, a global energy management company with more than $45 billion in annual revenue (2). Before Schneider, she spent 12 years at the AES Corporation in senior finance, strategy and M&A roles (3).

Her Oracle compensation package, per the SEC filing, includes an annual base salary of $950,000 and eligibility for a performance-based bonus targeting $2.5 million, prorated through Oracle's fiscal year-end on May 31. Oracle also agreed to cover up to $250,000 of her relocation costs over 12 months.

Maxson will receive a grant valued at $26 million under Oracle's Amended and Restated 2020 Equity Incentive Plan — 80% time-based ($20.8 million) and 20% performance-based ($5.2 million). She gets to choose whether to take that as 100% stock options or a 50/50 split of options and restricted stock units.

The time-based portion vests over four years on a front-loaded schedule: 40% after year one, 30% after year two, 20% after year three and 10% after year four. The performance equity vests over a three-year period ending May 31, 2028, tied to revenue metrics.

Read More: Robert Kiyosaki warned of a 'Greater Depression' — with millions of Americans going poor. Was he right?

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 (4).

Nina Lewis, a security alert manager who spent more than 30 years at Oracle, posted on LinkedIn that the layoffs appeared to "follow an algorithm of high level individual contributors and mid-level managers — especially those with outstanding stock options."

Lewis later clarified in a follow-up post that she had "NO specific inside knowledge of any layoff algorithm" but that rumors circulating 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."

Oracle declined to comment when contacted by Moneywise.

Oracle posted a 95% net income jump last quarter to $6.13 billion (5), and its remaining performance obligations — contracted future revenue — hit $130 billion in Q3, with total RPO reaching $553 billion (6).

But the company is spending aggressively on AI infrastructure, with $50 billion in capital expenditure planned for this fiscal year, and has taken on more than $100 billion in debt to fund the buildout (7). TD Cowen estimated the layoffs could free up $8 to $10 billion in cash flow. The stock is trading around $138 as of mid-April, down roughly 58% from its September 2025 all-time closing high of $325.76 (8).

During the same period, Oracle filed approximately 3,100 H-1B visa petitions across federal fiscal years 2025 and 2026 — including 436 in fiscal year 2026 alone — according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (9). The H-1B program allows companies to temporarily hire foreign workers with specialized skills for U.S.-based roles.

Oracle has not commented on the visa filings.

Layoffs have been creeping back into the headlines lately, and not just from Oracle. U.S.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, according to a report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s more than double the number announced a year earlier and the highest January total since the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (10). Meanwhile, total U.S. layoffs and discharges stood at 1.72 million as of February 2026 (11).

If that makes you uneasy, the best move is to prepare before anything happens. Taking small steps now can make a big difference later.

And the first thing to do is make sure you can support yourself if a pink slip arrives for you next.

Many financial advisors recommend building an emergency fund before you begin investing your hard earned cash. That way, you can insulate yourself from a sudden job loss, medical emergency or give yourself the runway to re-skill. Typically, an emergency fund will cover between three and six months of living expenses.

But even when you have a fund set up, the fight doesn’t stop. If your money isn’t generating interest, inflation can wear down the effectiveness of your fund over the years.

A high-yield account like a Wealthfront Cash Account can be a great place to grow your uninvested cash, offering both competitive interest rates and easy access to your money when you need it.

A Wealthfront Cash Account currently offers a base APY of 3.30% through program banks, and new clients can get an extra 0.75% boost during their first three months on up to $150,000 for a total variable APY of 4.05%.

That’s ten times the national deposit savings rate, according to the FDIC’s March report.

Additionally, Wealthfront is offering new clients who enable direct deposit ($1,000/mo minimum) to their Cash Account and open and fund a new investment account an additional 0.25% APY increase with no expiration date or balance limit, meaning your APY could be as high as 4.30%.

With no minimum balances or account fees, as well as 24/7 withdrawals and free domestic wire transfers, your funds remain accessible at all times. Plus, you get access to up to $8M FDIC Insurance eligibility through program banks.

If you’re worried about how a potential layoff might affect your finances, sitting down with a financial advisor can bring some clarity. They can help you take stock of your current situation — including your savings, debts and spending habits — and show you how prepared you really are for a potential income gap.

They can also help you map out a plan to strengthen your finances. Even a quick financial check-in can give you a clearer picture of what you’d need to stay afloat if your income were disrupted.

You can connect with a reputed FINRA/SEC-registered advisor near you for free through Advisor.com.

Just enter a few details about your finances and goals, and Advisor.com’s AI-powered matching tool will connect you with a qualified expert best-suited for your needs based on your unique financial goals and preferences.

Finding the right advisor isn’t always easy — there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why Advisor.com lets you set up a free initial consultation, with no obligation to hire, to see if they’re the right fit for you.

Relying on a single paycheck can feel risky when layoffs start making headlines. That’s why many financial experts recommend developing passive income streams that can continue bringing in money even if your employment situation changes.

That’s one reason many investors turn to real estate. Rental properties can generate steady monthly income while the underlying property potentially appreciates in value. Because housing demand tends to remain relatively stable, rent payments can provide a buffer during periods of job uncertainty.

The good news is that investing in residential real estate no longer requires taking on a mortgage, saving for a large down payment or managing tenants.

Crowdfunding platforms like Arrived allow you to invest in shares of vacation and rental properties across the country with as little as $100.

To get started, simply browse through their selection of vetted properties, each picked for their potential appreciation and income generation.

Arrived distributes any rental income generated by properties to investors monthly, allowing you to potentially set up a passive income stream without the extra work that comes with being a landlord of your own rental property.

The best part? For a limited time, when you open an account and add $1,000 or more, Arrived will credit your account with a 1% match.

Accredited investors have long turned to private-market real estate, as it offers a mix of potential tax benefits, regular cash flow, a hedge against inflation and returns that are less correlated with public equities. And if single-family residential properties aren’t quite enough, you could also explore multi-family opportunities.

Lightstone DIRECT’s direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically-integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.

With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.

Preparing for a possible layoff isn’t just about saving more — it’s also about spending smarter. Taking a close look at your monthly budget can help you identify expenses that could be trimmed if your income were suddenly reduced.

While some of these costs are hard to change quickly, others may have more flexibility than you think. Renegotiating your insurance plans, for example, might be a good place to start.

On average, you could save up to $482 by shopping around for home insurance and choosing the most affordable option. And that process is now easier than ever with OfficialHomeInsurance.

You can compare rates and features on home insurance policies from top providers near you for free in under two minutes through OfficialHomeInsurance.

Here’s how it works: Answer a few basic questions about yourself and your home, and OfficialHomeInsurance will comb through its database of over 200 insurers to display the lowest rates available.

For those looking to slash their monthly car insurance premiums, platforms like Insurify can also help.

Insurify lets you shop around and compare quotes offered by reputable insurance providers from the comfort of your own home. By comparing quotes and selecting the best deal, customers could see average potential savings of $1,100.

Just answer a few basic questions, and Insurify will show you the most affordable deals in as little as 3 minutes.

The best part? The process 100% free, and you can save up to 15% by bundling your car and home insurance.

— With files from Rudro Chakrabarti

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We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

SEC Form 8-K (1); Oracle (2); CFO Dive (3); The Next Web (4); CNBC (5), (6); Fortune (7); Yahoo Finance (8); IBTimes (9); Challenger, Gray & Christmas (10); Macrotrends (11)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.