Oracle Lured to Texas by Lower Payrolls and Labor Pool

Oracle Corp.’s surprise decision to shift its headquarters to Texas from California marks a strategic realignment for the Silicon Valley stalwart that’s likely to yield long-term financial benefits such as lower payroll costs and the potential to more easily recruit future employees.

The world’s second-largest software maker said last week that it would no longer designate its longtime base in Redwood City as its main office, ending an era for a company that helped define the technology industry through the 1980s and 90s. The embrace of Texas seems designed to curtail costs over time, in contrast to the San ...