Cisco to Slash 4K Jobs Over 'Slow' Economy

Cisco Systems is cutting jobs again even though it saw rising revenues in the fourth fiscal quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The network-equipment giant said today it will slash 4,000 jobs, or 5% of workers, because economic growth isn't moving fast enough. "What we see is slow steady improvement, but not at the pace we want," said CEO John Chambers. Cisco's profits jumped 18% in the fourth quarter and US sales rose 5%, but orders from Asia fell 3% and China business dropped by 6%.

Chambers—who has trimmed Cisco's workforce before—says the company also needs to reduce its bloated bureaucratic structure and make decisions with faster, smaller teams. "We just have too much in the middle of the organization," he said. What's more, Cisco is known for spotting business trends, so today's news may send shudders through other hardware and software companies. In after-hours trading, Cisco shares fell 9.5% to $23.88. (More Cisco stories.)