Thread regarding VMware layoffs

Some Observations and a Reality Check
Timeline. Broadcom announced the acquisition intent in May. The desired timeframe is "FY23" - which gets us into Q4 of Calendar Year 2023 - perhaps more than a year from now. If you want to have a reference point, the buyout of Citrix and merger with Tibco was announced in January 2022 and is supposed to close now. 9 months, despite the buy-out having been in the works for years, if you count the various activist investor plays, multiple CEO firings, etc. That transaction is MUCH smaller than Broadcom / VMWare, so there is very little chance that the deal will actually close much earlier than toward the end of communicated time frame.
Comms. Nobody internal to VMware (not even at the CEO / E-Staff level) has any idea what the future direction will be. Broadcom is going through the motions, but short of reading the tea leaves after the various discovery sessions, nobody knows which businesses or functional areas will be retained, grown, reduced, eliminated, sold etc. We only have the hints from prior acquisitions and the stated intent of growing EBIDTA substantially, so there's your hint and now you'll need to use common sense.
Engagement. Here's a broad observation. Short of specific customer-facing work (sales, support, CXS, etc.), the internal engagement is way down. People are apparently shy to drive strategic initiatives. Maybe they feel that these will get cancelled under Broadcom. Maybe it's quiet quitting or whatever. But here's my advice: Who cares? You're still getting paid, so just go do the work. Nothing changes until it changes. If you work hard on a program that later gets axed, don't worry. You got paid for the work. I think that working intentionally is better than not working.
If you're concerned about the future - go and get another job now. Don't try to time layoffs / severances. Don't underestimate the stress you'll be under if you do get laid off. You might get a generous package, but most people will need to act quickly to land somewhere else.
Good luck!