Cisco posts its fastest growth in 15 years with about 8,000 fewer employees than two years ago | CTech

Cisco Systems reported on Thursday what its CEO called its “strongest top and bottom line growth rates in over 15 years,” with first-quarter revenue up 24% to $18.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share up 40% to $1.40. Chuck Robbins also made a point of saying how few people it took. “If you just look at our revenue based on the guide we put up today, and you go back two years, we’re gonna generate $19 billion in incremental revenue, and we are going to do that with less headcount than we had at the beginning two years ago,” Robbins told analysts. “The efficiency that we are seeing is just unprecedented.”

Cisco’s annual reports show how large that reduction has been. The company had approximately 90,400 employees at the end of fiscal 2024 in July 2024, 86,200 a year later, and 82,400 as of July 25, 2026. That is a decline of about 8,000 people, or nearly 9%, in two years. During those same years Cisco ran three consecutive restructuring programs. Its filings put restructuring and…