Cisco cuts nearly 4000 jobs
Record quarterly revenue funds bigger AI and cybersecurity push, vulnerabilities at customer networks sit behind the strategy talk
Images
Image Credits:Kent NISHIMURA / Getty Images
techcrunch.com
Zack Whittaker
techcrunch.com
Startup Battlefield 200
techcrunch.com
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
techcrunch.com
Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems, speaks during the 2026 Semafor World Economy conference in Washington, DC, on April 15, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
techcrunch.com
Cisco is cutting fewer than 4,000 jobs—about 5% of its workforce—while reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue for its fiscal third quarter, according to TechCrunch. CEO Chuck Robbins highlighted “record” revenue and double-digit growth in a blog post the same week the reductions became public. The company says it is reshaping its cost structure to fund more spending on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
The juxtaposition is becoming a familiar pattern across large tech firms: layoffs framed as strategic repositioning rather than distress, even when results are strong. TechCrunch notes similar recent moves by Cloudflare and General Motors, where headcount reductions sit alongside upbeat financial messaging. In Cisco’s case, the “invest in cybersecurity” rationale also carries an uncomfortable footnote: the company has faced multiple security vulnerabilities in routers and firewalls that have been used to break into customer networks, including parts of the U.S. government, and it suffered a customer-data breach last year.
That backdrop matters because it explains why spending priorities can change faster than product lines. When vulnerabilities become a recurring headline risk, security investment stops looking like optional R&D and starts looking like a cost of staying in enterprise procurement pipelines. At the same time, “AI across the company” initiatives often translate into fewer generalist IT roles and more highly paid specialists, contractors, and vendor subscriptions—costs that do not show up as headcount in the same way. The result is a company that can tout growth while narrowing the number of employees who share in it.
Robbins’ compensation adds another data point to the internal math. Public filings cited by TechCrunch indicate he was slated to earn more than $52 million in executive compensation during 2025. A Cisco spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether he would reduce his pay in light of the job cuts.
Cisco has already laid off thousands of employees in two separate rounds in 2024 and cut 150 jobs in 2025. This time, the company is presenting the reductions as a funding mechanism for the next spending cycle—after the quarter has already come in above expectations.