Thread regarding VMware layoffs

F H T

Made it through 1 year, then quit. Broadcom is a spirit-slaying, motivation-crushing beast led by a megalomaniac who cares NOT 1 WH-T for customers or employees.
Coming from 15yrs at VMware, I couldn’t understand that what I was feeling post-acquisition was accurate. It was inconceivable to me that Broadcom (as a company) could be THIS. BAD.
“Maybe I’m just missing something? Maybe it will turn around” “VMware was their largest acquisition to-date, surely these must be #exceptional growing pains!”
Nope. Broadcom is antithetical to anything besides profit. PROFIT! PROFIT!!
In their terms, it’s called “EAR”.
EAR = Expiring Annual Revenue, and that’s all anybody in leadership talks about. No exaggeration. It’s a mantra. Even all the cool VMware directors bowed knee to the EAR king w/in ~45days, which I still find unimaginable.
Broadcom has mastered the art of soul-stealing. To what end? Why would King Hock position a Top 10 company this way?
PROFIT!!!!!!

Happened exactly as OP described. +1

This aged like fine wine

I was laid off as part of the VMware acquisition. The article is very accurate.

I am happy in a way that I don't have to deal with the new culture introduced by Broadcom. Aside from the job I liked many perks were gone. To the level it gave me the impression culture changed from "you are valued" to "make me money".
That RSUs won't contribute to your mental health.

Thanks for the truth about BC.

This comment was about 95% accurate with small variations unique to the acquisition. What was different is the communication because it was terrible and then the delay on closing.

This should be saved for future BC acquisitions.

On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful to the Broadcom guy and this post. I will get notified on Monday but due to this post I am prepared for it.

Why did they ruin employees Thanksgiving holiday

For anyone complaining that not knowing may ruin their holiday, two more say knowing they're laid off would absolutely ruin it.

Why did they ruin employees Thanksgiving holiday…the email should have been sent out Friday or Sunday…shame on Broadcom

If on long term disability do I get a termination letter and hopefully severance I have 16 years there…if you get severance do u get health insurance..

Definitely a $hit sandwich at every level. I don't understand why the people who got offers think the deal needs to go forward, nor do I believe if the deal fails, will things go back to what they were two years ago, but nor it is it likely there would be mass layoffs, at least for now. For the people who got offers, it's most likely that many would be dumped 6-12 months later, either to save on RSUs or because their work simply does not translate into revenue (something I have to admit about the vast majority of the projects I've been on). For the people who did not get offers, it is utterly demoralizing and VMware is hemorrhaging productivity loss. This takeover does utterly nothing for the US economy, so other than lobbyists pushing for it, there is no real government need to push for it. VMware is nothing to China, but perhaps Broadcom tech is and they don't want to commit su----e by giving up their ip. There is no solution; there is just spilled milk / broken glass.

Lot of my VMW coworkers are so naive and live in an idealistic world. How is any of this so horrible.? What Broadcom guy said still holds true and one of the best pieces of advice we all got. I have met with and talked to lot of my friends who have gone through many layoffs. All of them are super jealous of our situation. We have had 1.5 yrs to prepare for this. I was able to save up more than a 1 yrs of expenses as an extra savings to make sure I can survive longer due to bad job market. I had chance to prepare and review my Resume several times. Apply to jobs for several months and had luxury to reject offers that are paying less than my current pay. I had opportunity to learn new things and train. All of that while doing my regular job.

Some of my friends got laid off during the tech layoff and they worked for smaller companies. They got no WARN notice because their companies only lay off less than 50 people at a time to skirt WARN laws. Imagine being laid off without notice and only 2 weeks of severance pay. It hurts. Try telling your s-b story to those folks. They will laugh at you. You think BC is breaking laws? All BC acquisitions go like these. They have done this so many times. You think they are fools? And honestly if the deal does not go through, it will actually be worse than this. Do you think M Dell is going to let this company rot with bloated 38K employees? They will execute the same plan as what BC wants to do. The reason why you feel VMW is following BC orders is because VMW has seen the plan and they agree to it. Even if the deal falls apart. They want to execute the same plan. Nothing is going back to what it was. Stop dreaming. Get out your fantasyland. Put on your big boy pants and stop whining. Be prepared to be laid off or spinned off if you don't have an offer or if you do have an offer then be ready to work for a no frills brutally efficient organization.

Very few thing above accurate. YOUR managers did not decide anything at all. Broadcom dictated down with full authority and cruelty any and all decisions, regardless of any input from VMware. There was only 3 offers Welcome with cr-ppy base and some RSU's, Lose your titles, and lose salary with possibly some keeping a title with larger RSU to try and make up for the salary cut, and the transition offer or your fired.
Broadcom is totally BRUTAL untruthful, with a total and absolute lack of transparency and or ability or desire to communicate in any way shape or form. Engineering teams have been slashed by greater than 50% (so much for value development and innovation) and ki-led off entire sets of teams all together by not providing of offer. Then rest of people are due to the amazing amount of details provided Broadcom left in purgatory to rot as Broadcom for all its we are NOT a US Company and is anything but. They are telling vmware leadership to not communicate. They have no moral or ethical compass and have no willful human spirit on how to treat people with decency and or humanity. If I could recommend anyone anything is do whatever you can to never work here NEVER. EVERYTHING THEY Blogged and told the regulators that they would not be doing, they are 100% working toward doing and going to do its already lined up and staged to go, they will do whatever they can to dismiss the customers and run the talent they value so much into the ground as quickly as they can if they are not "producing". Ridiculous considering all the mental and emotional abuse they have put 35K people through, with no repercussions for their total and transparent greed. It has and never was about making VMware a leader or better or making a difference for customers and becoming a bigger leader in the industry and or cloud space NEVER.
It would be good to have the SEC answer how any of this is legal? How is it legal to have a company that does not own you, get to re-org you, know all your companies employees personal and confidential details, bank info, personal contact info, get to send out offers, get to approve spending, hiring, and put a company in limbo for well over 30 days or more? AGAIN how is any of this legal and how is any of this possible being they dont own anything yet. Someone owes all those people a real answer a real review not just a rubber stamp

Btw, this looks to be the most read / commented like post from a long time ago.

Then it must be at Director level and he / she may have unilaterally decided based on some subjective criteria who in your team will stay and who will go. All offer / transition / no offer decision were made by VMW management - that's how it works! Now which level, again up to functional VP whether they delegated to 1 level below or two.

I'm a manager with 6 layers between me and the CEO (too many IMO) and I can tell you two things. (1) I had absolutely no say in what happened to my team. If anything, I was repeatedly told there was nothing to worry about. (2) I could never secure the attention (or as it came across to me, respect) of the leaders above my direct manager. They had little visibility into the work my team did or the value we delivered. My goals were a moving target and to this day I still can't tell you what they were. I'm just sharing this as many people are probably feeling betrayed, misled, or treated without dignity. There's a good change your manager not only didn't know, but has received zero support from upper management in navigating conversations around the unknown - most of which have come from the shitstorm of the last few days.

This post from a year ago was absolutely on point. Even with the mgmt aspirations – mgrs being demoted is a trend with the ones that have received letters in the countries that could receive offers prior to the closing date.

For a year we were fed the illusion that everything was going to be different from other acquisitions that happened in the past for the mere fact that it was a bigger transaction... We were fools to believe that as what's happening is that it's the same-times-100 because the operation is bigger! I am glad that I saw it clear a few weeks ago and could scape before the worst, tbh. I am very sad that I was the only one, though – there are certain countries and territories where it's easier to find a decent job right away. There are others where the severance package won't compensate the amount of time it will take the average professional to find a new job. Good luck to all the colleagues in scenario #2.

The countries with protective labor legislations (those in Europe, most of Asia, Oceania, and Latin America) will start knowing something after the deal is closed – being it next Monday or two months from now seeing the situation with China... And that only increases the cruelty of the current situation because, pragmatically, the employees won't have a job to do but also they won't know what's coming and they will only have time to be in a negativity and worried feedback cycle. I honestly wish them peace of mind and a quick resolution of this unbelievable situation.

What I am freaking out about the most is that I have never ever seen a completely mess of an acquisition of this magnitude. The mgmt have 150% washed their hands on VMware employees and the EPIC2 values have gone out the window – not that you can trust on "values" in the corporate world but, at least, you'd think that they'll honor their positions until the very last moment and not leave 38.000 people not knowing what is going to happen to them in 3 days. It's an absolute shame and it should go on in history as the primary example of how NOT to do things. VMware is just the shell of what it used to be and, soon, not even that – it would just be dead.

Yes this was the most important piece of information in this entire saga. I knew I was going to be out right on that day. Too bad I never got a decent offer. But this got me a chance to save money and be mentally prepared. So thank you. Now I have to wait for the closing dance.

Wow, this guy knew what he was talking about last year.

Broadcom-guy,
Any idea what happened to people who are on L1 visas

#1 did happen. We were told that we'll be in one of the 3 categories on Sep 13th. Just not told which one..

Welp #1 didn't happen

What does Hock think of TAMs? Especially on federal side?
We are revenue earning?

Unique positions such as federal onsite contact positions, such as working at US Military bases on contracts where VMware has been paid for onsite long term support an onsite employee. I wonder how they will handle these positions since there is a contact in place.

This thread is more relevant now!!!
Any more authentic info please share.

@Broadcom guy- when you say Operations are among the groups that are likely to get let go, could you help expand as to what you define as operations? Strategy &Ops for example? Thanks!!!

Is there any new updates here ?

It is November 2022, Broadcom fiscal year 2023 starts, so when the acquisition will actually happen?

Tanzwho?

@Bchv+1gTMqgMW

The EU only taking 1-2 months. Was that with or without a Phase 2? As that is what rumors are pointing to happening for this particular acquisition. Whether it does and whether there is something in the VMware - Broadcom deal to justify it I don't know.

Any thoughts on Tanzu? Bcom will sell it off?

EU took approximately 1-2 months for CA and Symantec, I wouldn’t think VMware is any different

Anytime management "warns" employees against independent research on an acquisition, they have no credibility and we should do the opposite. Don't fall for it. Anyone in the departments listed in the initial PR (IT, HR, Legal, Finance) should be actively seeking a job elsewhere. Given Broadcom's well known acq playbook, we should expect 90-95% cuts in these departments.
Drinking the kool-aid mgmt is desperately feeding you will result in a lot of surprises on Day One. Anyone who tells me not to trust anyone but them is LYING to me, likely to stop attrition before the acq closes. A few weeks of severance taxed at the bonus rate of 40% (fed + state taxes) will not help much when seeking a job just before Christmas. 3 yrs at VMW = 6 weeks of severance = @ 3.5 weeks of salary take home amount. Do the math, open your eyes, go find a job elsewhere to protect you and your family!! The information is out there and on this site, protect yourselves! VMW IS NOT DIFFERENT!!!

https://www.streetinsider.com/dr/news.php?id=20216135

Given this comment that was published in streetinsider:

We believe Carbon Black (Security) and Tanzu (DevOps) are potential "for sale" assets

It's possible some people in these areas may be kept and sold on. Note I said possible, there is no certainty anywhere here. The C level in VMware can say whatever they want to their people and make promises, but come close, they will not be running the show.

Harsh to say, but I think Tanzu is potentially going to die as what customers would buy or signup with this level of uncertainty.

The VMware we know today is not going to be there tomorrow. Even if the deal was to fall through you already have people who are prepping to leave.

People do the math. Let's assume VMW is generating 12B in annual revenue. (This assumes they keep every product line we have, which they won't). The Broadcom CEO wasn't revenue per employee to be around $1.5M per employee. No more than 7,500 people when it is said and done. No way on earth they will keep 25,000 employees to generate $12B. They have 20,000 employees today generating around $28B. Don't be fooled by the "we are different". We aren't. This company is an execution machine.

@TruthRuth

Arguably the companies they acquired weren't making nearly as much money. This is also their biggest company. I have a feeling 10k for cuts but I don't think we will go from 40k on employees to 7k

Based on every acquisition before you, VMWare will have 5,000 - 7,000 people when the company is absorbed. Some of these people will be on transition for a period of time so not everyone will exit on Day 1, but many people will be exited. I predict 15,000 will go on day 1, another 10,000 will be on transition for up to a year and through natural attrition the remaining people will leave and the number will rest in the 5,000 - 7,000 range.

This is not Broadcom’s first software acquisition, they now have the infrastructure in place to run the business and won’t need most of the people at VMWare. This business model only works if they cut really deep.

@Broadcomguy We have 37,500 employees and last I checked the metrics that equals to roughly $350K revenue per employee. While Broadcom is around $1.6M revenue per employee.

Everyone's saying every acquisition is different, including VMware execs/Hock Tan. But I don't buy that. If you had to make a rough guess, how many employees you think will be eventually let go and over what time? 20,000 over within the first yr?