Thread regarding VMware layoffs

The wedding date hasn’t moved between Broadcom and VMware, but with no certain end to regulatory scrutiny in the U.S., the European Union and the U.K., both companies extended the deadline to walk away from the deal.

The planned $61 billion merger between the Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization all-star and the San Jose, Calif.-based chip-making giant was unveiled May 26. The sides had nine months from that date to walk away from the deal, which is known in the industry as an “outside date.” On Feb. 17, a week before reaching that outside date, VMware filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that both it and Broadcom had agreed to extend the deadline by 90 days.

“Together with VMware, we have agreed to extend the Outside Date in our merger agreement to May 26, 2023, which is common for a transaction of this size,” a Broadcom statement read. “We are continuing to make progress with regulatory authorities around the world, and we continue to expect the transaction to close in Broadcom’s fiscal year 2023.”

VMware said nearly the same in a statement it provided to CRN.

“We agreed to extend the Outside Date in our merger agreement from February 26, 2023 to May 26, 2023, which is common for a transaction of this size. We continue to expect the transaction to close in Broadcom’s fiscal year 2023,” VMware’s statement read.

Outside Date: Most M&A agreements include an outside date, also sometimes referred to as a “drop dead date”. Typically, these provisions permit either party to terminate the agreement unilaterally without “cause” or reliance on any MAE standard if the transaction has not closed by a specified date.

The above being said, the Outside Date can be pushed back if both parties agree to, so it means less than you might imagine.

What is the context for asking about "outside date of 26th May?"

That means it may finally be warm enough in the Bay Area by May 26 to go outside.