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 — with one 30-year veteran suggesting the company may have targeted employees with outstanding stock options.
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.
Maxson reports to CEO Clay Magouyrk. Her appointment reinstates the CFO title at Oracle for the first time since 2014, when Safra Catz took on both the CEO and principal financial officer roles. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anurag Rana noted in a research note that hiring a CFO from an industrial company signals Oracle’s priority is infrastructure buildout — not databases or applications (4)
