Cisco to lay off 1,300 workers

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) is going to dismiss about 1,300 employees, or about 2 percent of its workforce, a move it says it part of a restructuring process to cut costs and simplify its overall structure.

Cisco Systems headquarters

Image source: Cisco

The vendor told Bloomberg in an e-mail statement that the layoffs are one element of a "continuous process of simplifying the company, as well as assessing the economic environment in certain parts of the world."

What led the decision to conduct these new cuts were sluggish sales and the loss of market share.

John Chambers, Cisco's CEO and chairman, said in May that Europe's debt issues, slow public sector spending, and slow enterprise sales contributed to a Q4 profit forecast that fell below analyst expectations.   

Last year, the vendor cut 6,500 employees, or nine percent of its workforce, in an effort to save $1 billion in annual costs and increase profitability. In addition to the job cuts, Cisco shut down its Flip camera business so it could put more emphasis on its traditional router business to battle rivals such as Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Cisco is going to report its fiscal Q4 results on August 15.

For more:
- Reuters has this article
- Bloomberg has this article

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