BBVA vs Cisco: Founders, CEOs and History
BBVA was founded in 1857 by Bilbao Board of Trade and is led by Onur Genç. Cisco was founded in 1984 by Leonard Bosack, Sandy Lerner and is led by Chuck Robbins.
Company facts
Founders
BBVA
Bilbao Board of Trade
No individual is recorded as the founder of BBVA's oldest institution. Banco de Bilbao was created in 1857 after the Bilbao Board of Trade, the body representing the port city's merchants, promoted a bank that could issue banknotes and discount commercial bill…
Cisco
Leonard Bosack
Cisco Systems possesses one of the most famous, romanticized, and ultimately contentious founding stories in the history of Silicon Valley. The company was founded in 1984 by a husband-and-wife team, Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner.
Sandy Lerner
Sandy Lerner co-founded Cisco Systems in December 1984 with her then-husband Leonard Bosack, driven by the practical need to connect Stanford University's incompatible computer networks.
CEOs and their tenures
BBVA
- Pedro Luis Uriarte1999–2001
Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive and vice chairman of BBV from September 1994 and of the merged BBVA until he retired at the end of 2001.
Source - Francisco Gonzalez2000–2018
Executive Chairman
Chaired Argentaria before its 1999 merger with BBV and then BBVA until December 2018, 22 years at the head of the group in total. He drove the bank's technology rebuild and the 2007 purchase of Compass Bancshares in the United States.
Source - Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri2001–2009
Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive of BBVA from 2001 to 2009, the period that covered the USD4.1 billion buyout of the rest of BBVA Bancomer in 2004 and the USD9.6 billion purchase of Compass Bancshares in 2007. He later chaired Bankia and CaixaBank.
Source - Angel Cano2009–2015
Chief Executive Officer
Appointed chief executive in September 2009, replacing Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri.
Source - Carlos Torres Vila2015–2018
Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive from May 2015 until December 31, 2018, when he became executive chairman and Onur Genc took over as CEO. He had joined BBVA in 2008 to run strategy and corporate development and led digital banking from 2014.
Source - Onur Genc2018–present
Chief Executive Officer
Took over as CEO on December 31, 2018, the day Carlos Torres Vila became executive chairman.
Source
Cisco
- John Morgridge1988–1995
Former CEO and Chairman
Morgridge was Cisco's first professional CEO, recruited in 1988 by Sequoia Capital investor Don Valentine to professionalize a company still run by its engineering founders.
Source - John Chambers1995–2015
Former Chairman and CEO
Chambers led Cisco for 20 years and transformed it through over 180 acquisitions into the dominant force in enterprise networking infrastructure.
Source - Chuck Robbins2015–present
Chairman and CEO
Robbins has led Cisco's fundamental shift from hardware networking products toward recurring software and subscription revenue. The 28 billion dollar Splunk acquisition in 2024 positioned Cisco as a leading security and observability platform vendor.
Source
Timeline: BBVA and Cisco side by side
1857BBVA
Banco de Bilbao is created
Bilbao's Board of Trade promotes the creation of Banco de Bilbao as a bank of issue and discount for the city's merchants. It is the oldest institution in BBVA's corporate line.
1901BBVA
Banco de Vizcaya is founded
Banco de Vizcaya is founded in Bilbao and grows alongside Banco de Bilbao as the second large Basque bank, financing regional industry.
1984Cisco
Company Founded at Stanford University
Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner incorporate Cisco Systems in December 1984, commercializing multi-protocol router technology developed to connect Stanford's campus networks.
1986Cisco
First Commercial Router Shipped
Cisco ships its first commercial multi-protocol router, the AGS (Advanced Gateway Server), generating $1.5 million in first-year revenue as the internet begins its transition from research network to commercial infrastructure.
1988BBVA
Banco de Bilbao and Banco de Vizcaya merge
The two Basque rivals merge to form Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), one of the largest banks in Spain ahead of the European single market.
1990Cisco
Initial Public Offering on NASDAQ
Cisco goes public at a valuation of approximately $224 million, raising capital that would fuel its aggressive acquisition strategy. The IPO also precipitated the departure of both founders.
1995Cisco
John Chambers Becomes CEO
John Chambers takes over as CEO from John Morgridge, beginning a 20-year tenure that would see Cisco grow from $2 billion to over $47 billion in annual revenue through more than 180 acquisitions.
1999BBVA
BBV merges with Argentaria to create BBVA
BBV merges with Argentaria, the group Spain had assembled from state-owned lenders such as Banco Exterior, Banco Hipotecario and Caja Postal, forming Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
2000BBVA
BBVA takes control of Bancomer in Mexico
BBVA capitalizes Bancomer with USD1.4 billion and merges it with BBV-Probursa to create Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer, the largest bank in Mexico.
2000Cisco
Briefly Becomes World's Most Valuable Company
Cisco's market capitalization exceeds $500 billion in March 2000, briefly surpassing Microsoft and GE as the world's most valuable company before the dot-com crash erased over $400 billion in shareholder value.
2003Cisco
Acquisition of Linksys
Cisco acquires consumer networking company Linksys for $500 million, marking its entry into the home networking market and establishing a consumer brand that would later be divested to Belkin in 2013.
2004BBVA
BBVA bids for the rest of BBVA Bancomer
BBVA offers USD4.1 billion in cash for the roughly 41 percent of BBVA Bancomer held by minority investors, ending with about 99 percent of the Mexican group.
2007BBVA
Compass Bancshares purchase builds a US franchise
BBVA buys Compass Bancshares of Birmingham, Alabama for USD9.6 billion, creating a Sunbelt retail bank that later traded as BBVA Compass and BBVA USA.
2010BBVA
BBVA agrees to buy 24.9 percent of Garanti
BBVA agrees to pay ~$4.74 billion (EUR4.195 billion), about USD5.84 billion, for 24.9 percent of Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, funded with a rights issue of about $5.65 billion (EUR5 billion).
2012Cisco
Meraki Acquisition Launches Cloud-Managed Networking
Cisco acquires cloud-managed networking startup Meraki for $1.2 billion, gaining the platform that would become central to its small-and-medium business strategy and its broader shift toward subscription-based management.
2014BBVA
BBVA wins the auction for Catalunya Banc
BBVA bids ~$1.34 billion (EUR1.187 billion) for Catalunya Banc, with 1.5 million customers and ~$71.2 billion (EUR63 billion) of assets, in the auction run by Spain's bank restructuring fund. The deal closed in 2015.
2015Cisco
Chuck Robbins Appointed CEO
Chuck Robbins succeeds John Chambers as CEO, inheriting a mandate to transform Cisco from a hardware company into a software-and-subscription platform business capable of competing in the cloud era.
2017Cisco
AppDynamics Acquisition for $3.7 Billion
Cisco acquires application performance monitoring company AppDynamics for $3.7 billion just days before its planned IPO, signaling Cisco's strategic commitment to the observability and application intelligence market.
2018BBVA
Onur Genc is named CEO
BBVA's board designates Onur Genc as chief executive from December 31, 2018, the date Carlos Torres Vila replaces Francisco Gonzalez as executive chairman.
2019BBVA
BBVA unifies its brand worldwide
The group drops local names such as BBVA Bancomer, BBVA Francés, BBVA Continental and BBVA Compass and operates as BBVA in every market.
2020Cisco
Webex Usage Surges During COVID-19 Pandemic
Webex usage explodes to over 600 million meeting participants per month during the pandemic, temporarily positioning Cisco's collaboration platform as a critical piece of global remote work infrastructure.
2021BBVA
BBVA closes the transfer of BBVA USA to PNC
BBVA completes the transfer of BBVA USA Bancshares to PNC Financial Services on June 1, 2021, receiving about USD11.5 billion, equivalent to ~$10.8 billion (EUR9.6 billion), in cash.
2022BBVA
Tender offer lifts the Garanti stake to 85.97 percent
A tender offer at 15 Turkish lira per share closes in May 2022 and raises BBVA's holding in Garanti BBVA to 85.97 percent.
2024Cisco
$28 Billion Splunk Acquisition Completed
Cisco completes its largest-ever acquisition, purchasing cybersecurity and observability company Splunk for $28 billion in cash, pushing subscription revenue past 51% of total sales and establishing Cisco as a major force in security operations.
2025BBVA
The offer for Banco Sabadell lapses
Shareholders representing 25.47 percent of Sabadell's voting rights accept BBVA's all-share offer, short of the minimum BBVA required, and the bid lapses on October 16, 2025.
2025BBVA
Record net attributable profit of ~$11.9B (EUR10.511B)
BBVA reports gross income of ~$41.7B (EUR36.931B) and net attributable profit of ~$11.9B (EUR10.511B) for 2025, with ROTE of 19.3 percent and an efficiency ratio of 38.8 percent.
2025Cisco
AI Infrastructure Orders Exceed $2 Billion
Cisco's AI infrastructure orders from hyperscale customers surpass $2 billion in FY2025, more than doubling management's original target and validating the company's investment in Silicon One-based networking platforms for GPU cluster interconnection.
2026BBVA
BBVA is ordered to stand trial in the Villarejo case
Spain's National Court orders BBVA, former chairman Francisco Gonzalez and 14 other defendants to stand trial over work commissioned from former police commissioner Jose Manuel Villarejo between 2004 and 2016.
Acquisitions
BBVA
- Turkiye Garanti Bankasi tender offer (Turkey)2022Undisclosed
- Catalunya Banc (Spain)2014Undisclosed
- Turkiye Garanti Bankasi 24.9 percent stake (Turkey)2010$5.8B
- Compass Bancshares (United States)2007$9.6B
- BBVA Bancomer minority shares (Mexico)2004$4.1B
- Grupo Financiero Bancomer (Mexico)2000$1.4B
Questions about BBVA vs Cisco
Who is the CEO of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. and Cisco Systems, Inc.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. is led by Onur Genç and Cisco Systems, Inc. is led by Chuck Robbins. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. founded vs Cisco Systems, Inc.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded in 1857 — 127 years before Cisco Systems, Inc., which was founded in 1984. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Cisco Systems, Inc..
How many employees does Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. have compared to Cisco Systems, Inc.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. employs approximately 127,174 people, while Cisco Systems, Inc. employs approximately 82,400. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. has the larger workforce at 127,174 employees, compared to Cisco Systems, Inc.'s 82,400. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. and Cisco Systems, Inc. headquartered?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. is headquartered in Spain and Cisco Systems, Inc. is headquartered in United States. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. and Cisco Systems, Inc.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded by Bilbao Board of Trade. Cisco Systems, Inc. was founded by Leonard Bosack, Sandy Lerner.
Which company has a longer operating history — Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. or Cisco Systems, Inc.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. has been operating for approximately 169 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Cisco Systems, Inc. has been in operation for around 42 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the BBVA vs Cisco overview