Technology company Cisco is drawing backlash after posting all-time revenue while announcing about 4,000 job cuts on the same day.
This is another unsettling example of highly profitable companies cutting workers while celebrating strong financial results and expanding their artificial intelligence ambitions.
What happened?
As Ars Technica reported, Cisco disclosed record revenue while also eliminating about 4,000 jobs. The contrast quickly sparked outrage online, with many critics arguing the decision reflected a shareholder-first approach rather than any genuine financial distress.
Furthermore, a Reddit post about the news gained major traction on r/technology, earning more than 20,000 upvotes and over 1,000 comments.
One commenter wrote, "Companies shouldn't be able to layoff just to get a temporary bump on the books."
Another added, "As someone who was affected by one of their layoffs last year and is still looking for work, f*** them."
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Others said the announcement felt less like a one-off correction and more like a familiar corporate playbook: improve margins, pacify investors, and leave workers and their families to deal with the consequences.
Why is this concerning?
When a company can post record revenue and still cut thousands of jobs, it raises bigger questions about who actually benefits from productivity gains and emerging technology.
For workers, layoffs are not an abstract business decision. They can mean losing health insurance, falling behind on rent or mortgage payments, seeing a career stall, and facing months of uncertainty in an already difficult job market. Communities can also feel the impact when high-paying tech jobs vanish, especially when these cuts happen again and again.
The timing also adds to growing anxiety around AI-driven restructuring. Many workers fear companies are using the excitement around AI as cover for cost-cutting, even when those businesses are performing exceptionally well.
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The public is often told new technology will create a better future, but that promise can feel empty when the immediate outcome is lost jobs during periods of record income.
What's being done about this?
Pressure is growing for stronger guardrails around mass layoffs, especially when companies are financially healthy. Labor advocates and some policymakers have called for tougher disclosure requirements, stronger severance protections, longer notice periods, and labor laws that make it harder for corporations to cut workers simply to improve short-term financial optics.
Workers are also speaking out more publicly and challenging the idea that layoffs are an inevitable sign of progress.
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