Cisco boss John Chambers to stand down after 27 years at the top
Cisco Systems executive chairman John Chambers will not stand for re-election in December, leaving the world's biggest internet equipment manufacturer after more than 25 years.
He will be succeeded in the position by chief executive Chuck Robbins, and will be given the honorary title of chairman emeritus.
Mr Chambers joined Cisco in 1991 as head of sales, and served as the company's chief executive between 1995 and 2015, in which period its revenue increased from $1.2bn (£890m) annually to $48bn.
He made 180 acquisitions while at the helm of Cisco, navigating the firm through the dot-com bust and, on shifting to the chairman position, said he would be working mostly as a strategic advisor to Mr Robbins.
Cisco has struggled in recent years, with fourth quarter results released in August showing revenue falling on an annualised basis for the seventh consecutive quarter. It is currently cutting more than 6,000 jobs amid a shift towards more high-growth areas such as cloud computing and security.
The executive chairman, who is now 68, notified board members of his plan to step down from the group last Wednesday. Cisco has a mandatory retirement age of 70 for board members.
It is looking to reduce its board size to 11 members from the annual general meeting in December, 10 of which will be independent directors.
The news comes just weeks after reports emerged Mr Chambers was in advanced talks to personally invest in Uniphore Software Systems, an Indian software firm, having voiced his optimism for the Indian start-up sector in the past.
He has said India looks set to be "one of the three top economic powers of the world" in the next 10 to 15 years. He currently serves as chairman of the newly created US India Strategic Partnership forum.
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