Oracle, the world's largest software developer, will transfer most of its European hardware support activities to Romania to reduce current costs.

The liquidation of Oracle’s operations in Western Europe has already been launched, wrote the British newspaper The Register, quoting sources familiar with this process, reports local News.ro. The company declined to comment.

Oracle has 424 employees involved in hardware support activities in Europe, including executives, 137 of whom are already in Romania. By cutting costs, 287 people from outside Romania will be fired, according to the same sources. Of the total, 77 are located in Germany, 67 in Spain, 55 in France and 53 in the United Kingdom.

The activity in Germany is expected to be closed by the end of February next year, and the operations in Italy and France will be closed by the end of 2018. The operations in Spain should be closed at the same time as Germany.

The UK hardware support company has more executives than other countries and is expected to have the longest life. It will be the last major team that will transfer its responsibilities to the Romanian counterparts.

The move is related to the company’s declining revenues. In the last fiscal year, Oracle recorded software and hardware sales declines of 2%, respectively 11%. It was the first time when the cloud services brought more money.

Oracle’s Romanian subsidiary had over 3,600 employees last year. It is the company’s second largest subsidiary in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, after the UK. Last year, Oracle recorded a turnover of RON 908 million (EUR 197.4 million) and a net profit of RON 23.7 million (EUR 5.1 million) in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com