Cisco Systems Inc. has announced that it plans to lay off about 14,000 employees, according to technology news site CRN.
The cuts, which represent nearly 20 percent of the company’s global workforce, are expected to be announced within the next few weeks, according to CRN’s report.
CRN also says that Cisco is facing sluggish spending by telecom carriers and enterprises on network switches and routers, its main business. In response, the company has been beefing up its wireless security and datacenter businesses.
If the report is confirmed, Cisco’s layoff would be the second big tech industry layoff of a similar scale announced this year. Intel Corp said in April that it would slash up to 12,000 jobs globally, or 11 percent of its workforce.
Read some of Twitter’s reaction to the news below, and feel free to share your own thoughts in our comment section.
Annual cuts are a regular deal at #Cisco but this cuts deep. That's a lot of backend process https://t.co/O7Q6nIw3zS pic.twitter.com/RPVkI8OclA
— Nathan Moffitt (@n_moffitt) August 17, 2016
This would be quite brutal !! #Cisco plans to cut up to 20% of workforce: report https://t.co/T9dEAetdcL
— Olivier Miss (@olivierfroggy) August 17, 2016
Cisco Systems to lose fifth of global workforce. Is #Cisco going to die like 3Com, Wang Apollo, DEC and others? https://t.co/ivV9yEvP0J
— Claude Robinson III (@virtualclaude) August 17, 2016
Tomorrow ends soon for #Cisco Employees. https://t.co/YmV2P1yict
— James Ayers (@Ayers111) August 17, 2016
Tech meltdown? #Cisco to sack 14,000 employeeshttps://t.co/o1UEEER1iD pic.twitter.com/mfODOuKmfk
— Emirates 24|7 (@Emirates247) August 17, 2016
#Cisco laying off approx. 20% of its workforce – 14,000 in the weeks 2 come – https://t.co/Fg7bB2PIuX Re-engineering, needs new skill sets?
— PGurus (@pGurus1) August 17, 2016
Related: Cisco to Invest $1.4 Billion in Internet of Things Company Acquisition
