Does the deal matter anymore, when the primary asset has withheld its value?
If talent and intellect are the greatest assets of a software company, then the value of those assets is diminished when those skilled people are no longer actively engaged.
Therefore, what tangible 'goodwill' value remains when the workforce is alienated?
Are VMW assets, with or without AVGO, now damaged goods of lesser value?
in R&D (specifics yet to be defined).
Ha! That isn’t what you think it means.
This will be research into how to further reduce headcount and increase margin.
Many simulations need to be run and many expensive consulting companies need to be hired.
Don’t forget paying Dell at least $500 million for doing his own research. That is probably the deal he made to offset paying taxes on VMware stock.
“Does the 'BC Software Playbook' of cost-cutting and price increases improve the acquired company over time, or merely improve one-time cash flow?”
You’re not getting it.
Broadcom buys aging companies with ESTABLISHED revenue streams and guts them for higher margins. It works. Look at the 5 year stock trend. It’s up 300%.
Look at the ridiculously low employee count compared to revenue or look at revenue per employee at Broadcom.
Also remember that most of these large, established technology companies have 80 percent of their core revenue coming from a specific, limited set of products and core accounts. Broadcom eliminates all of the expensive speculative innovation and “science projects” that bring no value but cost a whole lot on company treasure and increased employee count.
Broadcom is a technology consolidation entity. Everything is crunched and compressed down to ONLY what matters from a revenue and margins perspective. If there is innovation or attempt to “make things better” then it is only out of a need to keep the high margins revenue beast fed.
There's no person on the current Broadcom Software leadership team that has
any skill or experience in driving growth within the B2B SaaS marketplace.
None at vmware either.
VMware is more than damaged now, either way if the deal goes forward or not. Moral is at an all time low, A players that were hangin in there, after this debacle, updated resumes and are looking to get out. VMware employees have lost all confidence in the company and leadership. MD and HT are desperate and will sell their soul for this deal to go through because if it doesn't, both will not look good in the industry. Customers and Partners are watching this closely.
"Once the rudimentary process of systematic reduction is applied by AVGO, what's left?"
It's a key point, for post acquisition. How will AVGO provide the much needed leadership. There's no person on the current Broadcom Software leadership team that has any skill or experience in driving growth within the B2B SaaS marketplace.
There's a reason why Hock Tan has not articulated a growth strategy for VMware. There is no strategy other than cut-headcount and invest $3B in R&D (specifics yet to be defined).
Does the 'BC Software Playbook' of cost-cutting and price increases improve the acquired company over time, or merely improve one-time cash flow? For example, have CA or Symantec been improved at all beyond the financial metrics captured in a spreadsheet?
Once the rudimentary process of systematic reduction is applied by AVGO, what's left?
What's the remaining value to employees, partners, customers, and shareholders?
My calendar is mostly empty now and I’ve started taking classes on different websites to fill the time. It’s quiet. Several people who used to be on slack all the time are dark. About half to three quarters of them.
"Even those that want to work are on empty update calls. Have meetings being postponed. Have technical update calls being cancelled. It's the most disturbing silence I've ever experienced."
This is about the same for the team that I am on. The customers have gone missing.
All Broadcom wants is the sticky, stable revenue from VMware’s core big accounts to add into their existing set of hardware and software franchises so that the more volatile “up and down” aspects of their hardware business aren’t a Wall Street risk.
Sticky revenue. Low employee counts. High margins.
This is the way
Post from TheLayoff.com
I can speak to the same experience. A bit less then half our group got offers, those that did were mixed transition and full time, full time had salary cut 20% and it ruined our groups morale
There are plenty of talented, motivated, and hardworking folks at VMware. The problem is, there are plenty of talented, motivated, and hardworking folks anywhere else in the industry. As workers, we are disposable. This is why companies like Meta and Amazon can hire and then fire and then hire while they're firing.
The system does not serve us, it serves the people who own the work we produce. Whether those people produce any value of their own, and whether it makes sense for such a small group of people to control the livelihoods of thousands of workers without so much as telling us whether we'll be employed next month, is up to you to ponder.
Ultimately, you are right to imply that a corporation is nothing without its workers.
Our team has lost motivation to fight forward and resume BAU. Our partners won't engage until they know how to invest in us. Customers are holding off on buying cycles. And half our team didn't receive offers. So it's a weird twilight zone where we don't talk about the people who will be cut if/once things go through, and we can't push business forward because everyone externally is waiting to see what happens before buying. It's extremely frustrating. And hearing nothing from leadership has been disheartening.
Even those that want to work are on empty update calls. Have meetings being postponed. Have technical update calls being cancelled. It's the most disturbing silence I've ever experienced.
"If talent and intellect are the greatest assets of a software company"- not at VMware, go back to sleep and pray a takeover happens.