IBD Q&A with Cisco CEO “Transition Will Foster Opportunity”
“When IBD launched a new national business newspaper 25 years ago, IBM was a newcomer to the personal computer market, Microsoft employed fewer than 900 people, Apple had just released the Macintosh computer “for the rest of us,” and a Silicon Valley start-up called Cisco Systems began selling routers and other gear to link computers over networks.” So begins a Q&A by IBD reporter J. Bonasia with our Chairman and CEO John Chambers.
John answers questions such as:
- What have been the most important changes in information technology since those early days of personal computers?
- What thoughts do you have for investors on the current economic mess? and,
- What leadership does this financial crisis demand of our top executives?
John states, in part:
“We (Cisco) are fortunate to have over $30 billion in cash and investments to enable us to be aggressive during this current market transition, and help put us in a good position when we exit this downturn. As I stated in our earnings conference call more than two quarters ago, we will continue to be aggressive and move into new market adjacencies. We will invest heavily in key areas including data center and virtualization, collaboration, video, health care, energy, education and others. Our collaborative management structure — with councils, boards and working groups — allows us to tackle multiple priorities. We know we won’t hit all of them, but most will be very good for us.”
Posted by John Earnhardt at 10:49AM PST
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