Cisco Posts Record $15.8B Revenue, Begins 4,000 Layoffs Same Day

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins announced a new round of layoffs beginning immediately, just hours after the company reported record quarterly earnings. The timing has drawn sharp attention internally and externally: a company celebrating exceptional financial performance is simultaneously cutting thousands of jobs.

In a blog post accompanying Cisco's fiscal Q3 2026 earnings, Robbins touted revenue of $15.8 billion—a 12 percent year-over-year increase—and told employees he and the executive leadership team "could not be prouder of the growth you have all delivered for Cisco." Within the same 24-hour window, the company confirmed that approximately 4,000 positions would be eliminated. The layoffs affect workers across multiple business units and geographies, according to internal sources familiar with the matter.

The contradiction between executive praise and workforce reduction has intensified scrutiny of Cisco's strategic direction. While the company positions the cuts as part of a broader restructuring effort to sharpen focus on high-growth areas such as cybersecurity and AI infrastructure, employees and analysts question whether record profitability justifies immediate job losses. The company has not disclosed specific criteria for which roles were selected or which regions face the deepest cuts. Cisco's headcount stood at approximately 84,900 at the end of its last fiscal year, meaning the new reductions represent roughly 4.7 percent of its global workforce. The company is expected to address investor questions during its next earnings call, where executives may face pressure to clarify whether further restructuring is planned.