Cisco cuts workforce to get back on track

Cisco Systems plans to cut 11,500 people – 15 percent of its workforce – and sell a factory in Mexico that makes set-top boxes for TVs.

The moves to reduce annual expenses by more than 700 million euros are part of the network equipment maker’s efforts to revive its fortunes.

The cuts come after Cisco’s chief executive John Chambers said in April that the company had “lost its way”.

Cisco will transfer 5,000 of its almost 74,000 workers to Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry , which will buy the set-top box plant in Juarez, Mexico. Of the other 6,500 who are leaving, 2,100 will take early retirement.

Cisco said in May that it would reorganise after losing ground in the network equipment business.

The company’s global scale and a clientele spanning businesses and government agencies has made it one of the technology sector’s bellwethers.

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