Mon May 4, 2015 3:37pm EDT  New York

 

Cisco Systems Inc Chief Executive John Chambers will step down in July after 20 years at the helm of the network equipment maker, a symbol of the dot.com stock boom 15 years ago now struggling to boost its bottom line in the era of cloud computing.

Company veteran Chuck Robbins, 49, will take over as CEO. The 65-year-old Chambers, one of the longest-serving leaders of a Silicon Valley company and also company chairman, will become executive chairman, the company said on Monday.

Wall Street analysts said a change was expected and could signal a refocusing of Cisco, which acquired dozens of companies under Chambers but has failed to make great headway outside its core networking business.

"In many cases where the CEO has been very acquisitive, the next guy pares down and refocuses the company, and that is what I would be expecting with this change," said Kim Forrest, an analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

Robbins did not immediately indicate where that focus would be. "Over the next 90 days, I (would) actually like to listen," he told reporters on a conference call. "The market is moving too rapidly for any one individual to think they have all the answers."

Shares of Cisco, based in San Jose, California with about 70,000 staff, were up 0.4 percent at $29.24 on Nasdaq.

The company became a stock market sensation at the height of the technology boom in March 2000 when its market value passed $600 billion, based on the company’s diluted share count at the time, and briefly topped that of Microsoft Corp.

Chambers never managed to revive those glory days despite forays into consumer electronics and other areas. Cisco's market value is now about $150 billion, and its annual operating profit is around where it was five years ago. It is expected to post sales of $49 billion this year.