Cisco Systems may whack up to 14,000 jobs in third mass layoff since 2011

Update: They layoffs have been confirmed, but they aren’t as harsh as rumored — Cisco cutting 5,500 jobs, 7% of workforce, in shift away from switches and routers. Original article is below.

Cisco Systems may fire up to 20 percent of its global workforce as it seeks to grapple with shifts in networking technology and slowing growth.

A report today from tech news site CRN indicated that the number of job cuts could be between 9,000 and 14,000 and would likely be announced within the next couple of weeks. Cisco currently has about 70,000 global employees.

“The heavy cuts, which sources said will range between 9,000 and 14,000 employees worldwide, stem from Cisco’s transition from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization,” CRN wrote.

This would be at least the third large-scale layoff the networking giant has announced since 2011. That year, Cisco announced a layoff of 11,500, though that included 5,000 jobs that were transferred when it sold a manufacturing facility in Mexico.

In 2013, the company announced another round of 4,000 job cuts. Cisco has typically made these announcements in August, after the end of its fiscal year. The company will report earnings later today after the markets close.

Despite the rocky road for employees, investors seem generally pleased with the company’s performance over the past five years. Cisco execs have argued that they have to be aggressive in evolving their staff to keep pace with changes in networking.

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