Silicon Valley Giant Cisco To Lay Off 5,500 Employees

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – Networking giant Cisco announced that up to 5,500 employees will be laid off, or seven percent of the company's workforce.

The company announced the job cuts as it revealed its 4th quarter earnings. Cisco reported revenue of $12.6 billion in the latest quarter, which was 2% year over year.

According to the company, the cuts would be part of a restructuring measure, focusing on "areas of future growth," including cloud services. Layoffs would take place beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, which is already underway.

Cisco's announcement of 5,500 layoffs was significantly lower than what was reported on technology news site CRN. Citing sources, the website reported Tuesday that 9,000 to 14,000 employees would be laid off.

In an email to KPIX 5 ahead of the company's earnings announcement, a Cisco spokesperson characterized the report as "rumor and speculation."

Cisco had more than 73,000 employees as of April, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Based in San Jose, Cisco has announced several layoffs in the last several years, including a cut of 6,500 workers in 2011. In 2012, 1,300 employees were laid off, 4,000 jobs were cut in 2013 and 6,000 jobs were cut in 2014.