Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) could be set to cut 10,000 jobs in a bid to slash costs by $1 billion, according to media reports.
The figure, from Bloomberg sources, would equal around 14 percent of Cisco’s workforce, which currently stands at 73,400 employees worldwide. Seven thousand of the jobs could go by the end of August.
The networking company signaled plans to cut staff numbers in May, after it announced an 11 per cent decline in third-quarter profit.
Brian Marshall, analyst at Gleacher & Co, said that job cuts were needed to meet Cisco’s chief executive John Chambers’ cost-reduction plan, according to Reuters.
Marshall forecast that a smaller number, 5,000 jobs, would be lost, and it has previously been forecast that Cisco could cut 4,000 jobs.
“As we outlined on our Q3 FY11 earnings conference call, we are in the process of determining where we need to reduce, align and redeploy our global workforce,” Cisco said in a statement. According to Reuters, Marshall said that the job cuts would “help right the ship” and help Cisco reduce its operating expenses by about $1 billion annually.