Massive, transformative takeovers not on the cards for Cisco, says Robbins

Cisco CEO reveals plans for smaller, more niche takeovers and opens up on working relationship with predecessor John Chambers

Cisco's CEO Chuck Robbins has stopped short of ruling out massive, transformative acquisitions, but said that the firm is firmly focused on smaller, more aligned takeovers.

Robbins (pictured) told Bloomberg that IoT, security and cloud are firmly on the company's radar when it comes to M&A.

In the last year alone, Dell announced plans to snap up EMC for $67bn (£51bn), Microsoft snapped up LinkedIn for more than $26bn, and just yesterday, ARM was bought by Japanese firm Softbank for £24bn.

When questioned if a similar transformative deal was on the cards for Cisco, Robbins said it has not been its style in the past, and probably won't become so in the near future.

"Our strategy is first and foremost to look at where the market is going and what our customers need from us," he said.

"Then we look at our capability and the speed at which we can deliver our own innovation and where we need to leverage M&A, and frankly, where we need to leverage new partnerships as you have seen us build over the last few years.

"Historically, we've found that we have had an affinity with smaller, very aligned acquisitions. I don't see that changing significantly in the future.

"We will always be opportunistic when companies line up with our strategic direction".

Robbins took over the top job last year, when then-CEO John Chambers shimmied into the role of chairman.

Robbins admitted that the pair has not always seen eye to eye on strategy since the changeover.

"As we've worked through this year, he's been a great sounding board for me," he said. "I'd say that some of the decisions I have made we are 100 per cent aligned on, others we are close, and others maybe not. But he's been incredibly supportive all year."