Cisco slashes thousands of workers as it announces yearly profit of $10.3 billion

Cisco Systems is laying off 7% of its workforce, the company announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. It’s the San Jose tech giant’s second time slashing thousands of jobs this year.

The networking and telecommunications company is vast, reporting to have 84,900 employees in July 2023 before it chopped at least 4,000 in February. That means the new 7% cut will likely affect at least 5,500 workers.

Cisco spokesperson Robyn Blum said in an email to SFGATE that the layoff is meant to allow the company to invest in “key growth opportunities and drive more efficiency in our business.” Cutting costs through layoffs and then plowing cash into expensive technologies like artificial intelligence is a trend that’s emerged at some tech companies over the past two years.

"Cisco is laser focused on growth, consistent execution, and resetting our cost structure as we invest in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity,” Blum wrote. She added that the company would provide “full support” to impacted employees but didn’t offer specifics about the plan for workers’ severance pay.

More hints about the layoff’s potential reasoning showed up in a Wednesday blog post from CEO Chuck Robbins. The executive wrote that Cisco plans to consolidate its networking, security and collaboration teams into one organization and said the company is still integrating Splunk; Cisco closed its $28 billion acquisition of San Francisco-based data security and management company in March.

Cisco also announced its earnings for its last fiscal year on Wednesday. Total revenue was slightly down year over year, to $53.8 billion, but the company still reported a $10.3 billion profit during the same period.

Hear of anything happening at Cisco or another Bay Area tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.