Competitors. That's not to say there haven't been layoffs. The layoff knife sliced 50% Jan 2017, then again another 50% Sep 2017 in my area. Oracle is attempting to change, execution on that plan is key, and we all get to see how that will go. Yup, it's far easier to purchase some smaller company than create on your own ____ (you name it netsuite, cloud security). Yup, it's far easier to layoff, than retrain. My main complaint is that Oracle does not acknowledge the layoffs, and only wants the spin to go positive...unless its the quarterly results calls.
Again: who gains by doing that?
This time its not the competitors, but they love the uncertain message it sends.