Oracle, Leidos fall on report of US defense department slashing software contracts

Shares of cloud firm Oracle ORCL.N and IT services firm Leidos LDOS.N fall between 2% and 3% premarket

The U.S. Department of Defense will terminate a program that uses Oracle and Leidos' technology for streamlining the department's HR information, Bloomberg News reports, citing a memo

Additional spending on the project "would be throwing more good taxpayer money after bad," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in the memo

Oracle and Leidos did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment

Hegseth wrote that the program and other associated contracts are six years behind schedule and more than $280 million over budget - BBG report

Shares of Leidos are trading at $131 and rose ~33% last year, while Oracle is trading at $142.89 and jumped 58% in 2024