Cisco Systems executives, whose company’s stock price fell Thursday in percentage terms the most since February of 2011, are pointing to US National Security Agency spying as a cause of the reduced sales of its products including networking equipment.
Cisco Systems Chief Executive Officer John Chambers suggested in the company’s earnings conference call with analysts on Wednesday that concerns about NSA spying contributed to Cisco’s decreased sales in China. Invezz expands on the spying’s impact on Cisco sales with comments from Cisco’s chief financial officer and figures for reduced product orders in Russia and Brazil:
Chief financial officer Frank Calderone said that the projected revenue decline was partially due to the recent revelations about internet surveillance by the US National Security Agency, which prompted “a level of uncertainty or concern” among customers internationally. In the last quarter new orders dropped 12 percent in the developing world, with Brazil down 25 percent and Russia off 30 percent.
Russia and Brazil are two countries where US government spying may be expected to especially cause reduced sales by American companies The Russian government provided NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden with temporary asylum despite US government objections, while Brazil Prime Minister Dilma Rouseff condemned before the United Nations General Assembly the US mass spying program in general and US spying on Brazilian companies in particular.
US government spying is hitting both personal liberty and American companies’ bottom lines.
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