Juniper Networks quietly did another lay off this week

On Tuesday, Juniper Networks announced that it was reorganizing the company including the resignation of one of its executives, effective immediately.

The departing exec was Jonathan Davidson, executive VP and general manager of Juniper Development and Innovation.

What the company hinted, but didn't say in that press release, was that this reorganization also included a layoff. Juniper has now confirmed to Business Insider that a layoff happened.

A person in the industry told us that Juniper cut about 9% of its workforce, which would amount to more than 700 jobs gone, and maybe as much as 900, by the time the cutting concludes. Juniper had about 9,800 employees as of December, it said.

A spokesperson would not comment on size of the layoff except to say the 9% figure was not accurate and characterized the layoff as "small."

"Juniper Networks can confirm that a small realignment of its workforce occurred to increase our operating efficiency and focus on driving long-term growth. We believe this action was necessary to allow us to prioritize our continued investments in the most critical areas that we believe will drive our business both in the short-term and future."

The company laid off 6% of its workforce back in 2014 and in 2015 was the target of activist investor, Elliott Management. It agreed to let Elliot appoint two board members and since then, it looked as if things were getting better for the company, with a fairly steady stream of meets and beats on its quarterly earnings.

But during its last quarterly report, announced in January, Juniper's guidance on profits was soft and employees have been bracing for cuts for months, we understand.