(2) The balances at May 31, 2018 and 2017 included $257 million and $242 million, respectively, recorded in other current liabilities and $25 million and $22 million, respectively, recorded in other non-current liabilities.
What this means is Oracle has taken all the charges for the FY 2017 restructuring plan that extended into FY2018 but they have not paid out all the cash for it. There is still 257 million to be paid out.
The already took the charges for the restructuring (ayoffs,) so if they don't pay out the 257+25 million, my guess is they would have a tax penalty associated with that.
They are holding it back and are waiting for attrition. I work in HR.
Now what? Did they just delay the planned layoffs and will be using up the $257M to cover the costs whenever they see fit? Or could they shuffle the money around and make the current quarter look $257M better than it otherwise would?
Pure speculation on my part...
Oracle shifted money around last year, so it has already been taken into account by Wall Street. That means that Oracle is free to use it to let people go whenever they see fit or, if possible, to not use it and boost their lagging performance. My bet is that Oracle will try to hold onto the money if possible and will try to use attrition as much as possible instead of layoffs. The poor bonus payouts and missed quota attainment will drive attrition. Setting high quotas and/or messing with field territories for this FY is another. If attrition isn't enough, then the restructuring funds will be used to target those groups/individuals that Oracle would like to get rid of.