Cisco to Cut 6,500 Jobs

Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. on Monday said it will eliminate 6,500 jobs, cutting its global workforce by 9% as part of a move to slash its annual operating costs.

San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco also announced a deal to sell its television set-top box facility in Juarez, Mexico, to Foxconn Technology Group. The 5,000 workers at the company will become Foxconn employees, Cisco said.

Foxconn was expected to take over the facility in Mexico in the early months of next year.

Cisco said the moves are part of an action plan to "simplify the organization, refine operations and reduce annual operating expenses" by $1 billion.

Cisco in April pulled the plug on its Flip video-camera business, which it bought about two years ago for $590 million, and cut 550 jobs.

Cisco's decision to shut down the Flip unit was part of what the company said was a move to exit aspects of its consumer businesses and focus on other priority areas.

Cisco explained at the time that it was realigning its remaining consumer businesses "to support company priorities -- core routing, switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video."

Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers said the company was devoted to a "network-centric platform strategy."

Cisco shares rose slightly to $15.45 in after-hours trading on Wall Street.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011