5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

Cisco To Shed 4,000 Jobs, Shares Plummet

The networking giant surprised the industry Wednesday when it announced plans to shed 4,000 jobs, about 5 percent of its global workforce. Cisco's shares fell more than 9 percent in after-hours trading after the news hit.

The news came during Cisco's fourth-quarter earnings call with CEO John Chambers. He didn't provide details about which geographies or product groups would be affected by the cuts. The CEO portrayed the layoffs as a way to boost Cisco's "speed, flexibility and agility," rather than a response to slowdowns in any specific area.

Cisco's channel partners took the news in stride, saying they remained bullish on the company despite news of the layoffs. They forecast continued strong sales of the company's networking and unified communications products.