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author | wang di

following intel and ibm, another well-known technology giant cisco was reported to be planning to lay off employees. phoenix finance learned from different sources that cisco's second wave of layoffs this year has been implemented.

on september 19, several cisco employees in dalian reported to phoenix finance that they had received a layoff notice today. cisco blue card (full-time) employees in dalian are expected to lay off about 300 people. the compensation plan includes two options: one, leave directly, "n+7"; two, delay for two months, "n+5". it is understood that most of cisco's overall business may be transferred to india or japan in the future.

a cisco employee told phoenix finance: "the news of layoffs has been circulating since the mid-autumn festival. today, the hr at the headquarters talked to many employees. we had a farewell dinner today. some departments disappeared directly. some project teams laid off 3 out of 20 people, and there will be more layoffs in the future."

"my partner is a cisco blue card employee, and he was notified of layoffs today. as far as i know, cisco is probably laying off employees worldwide. currently, the layoffs mainly involve nearly 300 blue card employees in the japan and south korea projects, affecting positions such as tac (technical after-sales). red card layoffs should also be coming soon, which is within the next three months." a family member of a cisco blue card employee revealed to phoenix finance.

according to insiders, blue cards refer to cisco's formal employees, while red cards refer to cisco's informal employees who have signed contracts with third-party companies. this wave of layoffs at cisco dalian is about 300 people, and the remaining employees may also be laid off one after another.

an insider told phoenix finance: "rumors of layoffs have been circulating internally before, and it was just confirmed today. this is already the second wave of layoffs at cisco this year, with about 300 people being laid off. the employees involved in this round of layoffs are all related to the japanese and korean projects. not all of cisco's informal employees were laid off today, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future."

regarding compensation, a former cisco employee in shanghai told phoenix finance: "n+7 compensation is very humane. many colleagues have worked at cisco for more than ten years. after being laid off, they used the compensation to travel around." an employee in dalian who has not been laid off said: "it is still safe at present, but people are also panicking now."

as one of the two giants in the global network equipment field today, cisco has a 40-year history and focuses on markets such as the internet of things (iot), domain security, video conferencing and energy management. it has branches in more than 140 countries around the world.

cisco entered the chinese market in 1994, and the cisco shanghai r&d center was officially opened in october 2005. after that, cisco announced the establishment of greater china in january 2010. cisco once monopolized the global network equipment such as routers and switches. cisco had a 10-year "war" with huawei and had also gone to court with huawei over patent infringement.

in february this year, cisco laid off about 4,000 employees. this global layoff is the second round of layoffs announced by cisco in august this year, which cut about 7% of the employees. according to relevant media calculations, cisco currently has about 90,400 employees (including those related to the acquisition of splunk), which means that this round of layoffs will reduce more than 6,300 jobs.

cisco's official explanation for the layoffs is that the layoffs will allow the company to invest in growth opportunities and streamline its operations. an insider told phoenix finance: "cisco previously spent more than 20 billion to acquire splunk, and the funds are not flowing, so it has to lay off employees."

this year marks the 30th anniversary of cisco's entry into china and the 40th anniversary of cisco's global presence. at the 2024 china aigc innovation and development forum held in september this year, cisco greater china vice president dong yuling publicly pointed out that cisco has acquired nearly 300 companies in the past 40 years, and the largest acquisition was the acquisition of splunk for us$28 billion last year, focusing on its security and data.

in addition to acquisitions, cisco's layoff plan may be related to declining performance.

according to cisco's fourth quarter report for fiscal year 2024, cisco expects the company's revenue in fiscal 2025 to reach between us$55 billion and us$56.2 billion. the average performance outlook is us$55.5 billion, which failed to meet analysts' expectations.

in addition, cisco's net revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter was us$13.642 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 10%; net profit was us$2.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 45%; total revenue and net profit in fiscal 2024 decreased by 6% and 18% year-on-year, respectively. this is the first time cisco's revenue has declined since 2020.

in fact, more and more technology giants have joined the ranks of layoffs this year. ibm closed its r&d department in china, resulting in the unemployment of more than 1,000 employees; intel announced that it would lay off 15,000 employees in order to achieve a $10 billion cost-saving plan; and apple fired 100 service department employees in order to refocus on ai development.

regarding the question of whether cisco's layoffs in dalian will affect subsequent local product cooperation, phoenix finance called the official phone number of cisco's dalian office. the front desk staff told phoenix finance: "i can't answer any of your questions. i haven't received any email notifications, and i don't know much about the layoffs." after that, phoenix finance contacted relevant personnel from cisco's communications department, but no relevant response was received as of press time.