The WSJ notes that Cisco stock is off 75% from its all-time, tech-bubble high, while the Nasdaq index is down about 48% from its all-time high in March 2000.

Among the specific actions Nader suggested in the letter are the distribution of a one-time dividend of $1 a share and an increase in Cisco's annual dividend to 50 cents from 24 cents. Cisco just started paying a dividend to shareholders this year.

"If they can't give shareholders value, then they have to give cash," Nader said in an interview with The WSJ last week. Cisco holds $43 billion in cash, nearly half of its market value, and all but $5 billion of it from overseas profits. Bringing it back here would subject Cisco to a of nearly 35%.

According to The WSJ, a Cisco spokeswoman said the company welcomes input from shareholders and added that the company is considering "capital allocation and returns to our shareholders," but declined to discuss specifically whether a dividend increase or one-time payout are on the table.

Nader, famous for going after big business and for his 1965 report on the American automobile business, "Unsafe at Any Speed," said he wrote the letter to Chambers because he objects to the "powerlessness of owner shareholders." Nader's own investment in Cisco stock -- 18,000 shares -- was valued at $1 million in 2000, but last week it was valued at $278,000.