Cisco Possibly Still Planning on Downsizing Global Workforce

Although still unconfirmed, reports on Bloomberg suggest that networking equipment manufacturing leader, Cisco Systems Inc. may soon be on its way to slicing off a considerable chunk of its workforce. We had already reported back in May of this year that this was in the works and although the company hasn’t yet made it official, the situation seems to say that it’s quite possible. In a bid to boost profits, and bring back some lost glory, Cisco may reportedly cut as many as 10,000 jobs from its total global workforce, comprising of 14 per cent of the entire strength.

Downsized?

As many as 7,000 employees will be let go by the end of next month, and some 3,000 employees who agreed to the buyouts are being presented with early-retirement packages. Apparently, the market share of Cisco, along with the reputation that the brand had built over the years, has been slowly slipping. Newer names like Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) have been usurping the switches, router market with lower-priced products. These changing trends have been giving Cisco officials sleepless nights and this cut-off seems to be the only logical option they have.

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The company plans to have substantial boosts in its profit margins post the cut-off. It may seem worthy to note that Cisco Systems had acquired Flipcam and Linksys, sometime back. Of which, Flipcam died a silent death as we reported a couple of months go.