Cisco chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins though did not share any details on job cuts, he did confirm the same. We would “be reluctant to go into a lot of detail here until we’re able to talk to them. I would say that what we’re doing is rightsizing certain businesses,” he said. “You can just assume that we’re going to — we’re not actually — there’s nothing that’s a lower priority, but we are rightsizing certain businesses,” he told the analysts.
“The people impact is difficult … it’s always a difficult decision, but we have a lot of opportunity,” he added. “There’s nothing that’s a lower priority, but we are rightsizing certain businesses.”
It’s “rebalancing” act
Cisco chief financial officer Scott Herren described the move as a “rebalancing” act. “Don’t think of this as a headcount action that is motivated by cost savings. This really is a rebalancing. As we look across the board, there are areas that we would like to invest in more, Chuck just talked about them. Security, our move to platforms and more cloud-delivered products,” Herren said during the company’s earnings call.
He added that if we look at the number of jobs that the company has opened in the areas that it is trying to invest in, “it is just slightly lower than the number of people that we believe will be impacted”.
Revenue up, net income down
During the Q1 2023 which ended October 29, Cisco’s revenue climbed 6 percent to $13.63 billion compared to $12.90 billion in the same period a year ago. The company posted net income of $2.7 billion in the first fiscal quarter of the year, a decline of 10 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.
