Cisco to Cut 350 Jobs in Silicon Valley this October

Cisco Systems, the giant in network communications equipment, has announced plans to lay off 350 employees in Silicon Valley next month, according to a document filed with the California Employment Development Department. This marks the company's second round of layoffs this year.

The document reveals that Cisco intends to cut 227 jobs at its San Jose office and 123 jobs at its Milpitas office by October 16. In November of last year, Cisco had announced a worldwide reduction of 4,000 jobs, approximately 5% of its global workforce, but did not disclose the number of affected employees in Silicon Valley at that time.

These layoffs come despite Cisco's strong performance in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023, which concluded in July. The company reported a remarkable 16% year-over-year increase in revenue, reaching $15.2 billion, surpassing market expectations of $15.1 billion. Furthermore, its net income experienced a notable surge of 42.8%, reaching $4 billion.

However, Cisco's outlook for fiscal year 2024 fell short of market expectations. The company projected a revenue range of $57 billion to $58.2 billion, whereas analysts had anticipated $58.3 billion.

Despite this, Wall Street analysts remain optimistic about Cisco, citing its robust growth and order backlog in the second half of fiscal year 2023. They also believe that the company's guidance for fiscal year 2024 is "relatively conservative" and expect Cisco to gain a larger market share in the security and networking segments.