Juniper Networks to lay off about 6% of its workforce

Juniper Networks will lay off about 6% of its workforce and back out of application delivery controllers as part of a restructuring intended to cut costs and focus the company on markets where it can grow fast. The job cuts, from an employee base of more than 9,400, will lead to $35 million in severance and other costs in the current quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Network gear maker Juniper Networks Inc, which is under pressure from investor Elliott Management Corp to slim down, said it plans to reduce its global workforce by 6 percent and focus on its high-growth businesses. Juniper said most of the cuts would impact middle management positions and that it expected to incur cash charges of about $35 million in the first quarter, related to severance and other expenses. The company had 9,483 full-time employees as of December 31. Juniper also said it would stop development of the application delivery controller technology, which helps remove excess load from servers, resulting in a non-cash intangible asset impairment charge of about $85 million.