Cisco will cut 6,500 jobs, 9 percent of global workforce

Cisco Systems, one of the Triangle's biggest employers, said today it will cut 9 percent of its global workforce as part of a corporate restructuring designed to cut $1 billion in annual operating expenses.

The cuts will total 6,500 employees, including 2,100 who took early buyouts earlier this month.

A 9 percent staff cut would eliminate about 450 jobs in North Carolina. Most of those cuts would happen at Research Triangle Park, where Cisco employed about 4,900 workers and contractors as of May, the latest figures available.

The computer networking company, which employed about 100 people in Charlotte and Greensboro, is not providing details about regional effects of the staff cuts.

Those to be laid off will be notified during the first week of August, but Cisco will notify some workers later to comply with foreign laws, it said.

The announcement ends weeks of speculation about the depth of the cuts that had been previously announced by Cisco CEO John Chambers. Some were predicting Cisco would cut as many as 10,000 workers.

Cisco had planned to provide details on its planned staff reductions during its Aug. 10 earnings announcement, but inaccurate reports forced the company to accelerate the announcement today, said Cisco spokeswoman Karen Tillman.

The company is cutting staff to win back the confidence of investors after CEO Chambers said the company had become complacent and lost focus.

Cisco last offered buyouts in 2009, when it eliminated thousands of jobs worldwide.

Cisco's main business is making the switches and routers used by corporate networks and telephone and Internet service providers to direct web traffic.