Cisco plans to cut 350 jobs in Silicon Valley next month, mostly in software engineering positions.
Cisco plans to cut 350 jobs in Silicon Valley next month, according to Seeking Alpha. According to the California Employment Development Department, Cisco will cut 227 jobs in its SAN Jose office and 123 in Milpitas by mid-October. According to SFGate, most of the layoffs in both offices are in software engineering positions. The layoffs are part of the company’s “rebalancing effort,” which began in November 2022 and includes a limited restructuring of our real estate portfolio and approximately 5% of our workforce, a Cisco spokesperson said in a statement. A 5% cut would equate to 4,000 employees.
They added: “As we announced at the time, this is not about cost savings, as we have roughly the same number of employees as before the process began. This rebalancing is about prioritizing investments in our transformation to meet and exceed customer expectations in the ever-changing technology landscape. We will continue to do everything we can to help affected employees find open positions and provide extensive support, including severance payments.” Cisco had a solid first half, with sales in the fourth quarter (which ended in July) up 16 percent from a year earlier to $15.2 billion. “Despite ramping up its investment in research and development, it still posted a massive 41 percent jump in net income to nearly $4 billion,” Light Reading’s Morris said. Despite a healthy financial year, Cisco is one of the other big U.S. telecom companies.
Verizon and Crown Castle are also cutting jobs. Crown Castle announced in July that it plans to cut 15 percent of its workforce, which is expected to reduce service revenue by $90 million in 2023. Mike Dano of Light Reading said, “Verizon is rolling out a cost-saving program in 2022. The plan aims to cut $2 billion to $3 billion from Verizon’s bottom line by 2025. The plan builds on Verizon’s four-year, $10 billion cost-cutting program to be completed in 2021.
Companies like Cisco, Dish Network and Ericsson are also cutting jobs in the telecom industry.” Dano explained that the industry-wide layoffs are in line with the current economic situation: “The news is not surprising:” The industry is experiencing a slowdown in spending, exacerbated by rising interest rates and increased competition. In addition, something similar is happening in other parts of the broader technology market.”