Reflections on the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom

When the acquisition was first announced (2022), like many of my colleagues I was worried about what it might mean for VMware. What it would mean for my colleagues, the solutions we produce, the customers who use those solutions, and also for myself. It’s not that I hadn’t heard of Broadcom - having worked with server hardware for many years I had of course encountered Broadcom chips before - it’s that I didn’t know much about them and what would happen to the VMware brand.

With the timeline for the acquisition to complete swiftly closing, I had largely forgotten that anything was going on. All of a sudden we were hearing about the process by which colleagues in the US, Canada and India would learn of their fate. Would they remain in the acquired company or become part of a reduction in headcount? It wasn’t a great time. Rumours and concerns were flying about. The reassurances from the VMware C-suite were hollow sounding and repetitive.

Many of my colleagues received offers to stay on with Broadcom in the weeks before the acquisition closed. Many accepted as they, like me, still believed in VMware’s mission. Some felt the time had come for a new chapter in their careers and declined their offers. And many were told that they would be let go. Over this side of the Atlantic, however, things were not so clear.

Immediately post-close, we didn’t know what would happen. I was away at AWS re:Invent in the immediate aftermath of the acquisition and I didn’t know what to expect on my return. The communication that we all eventually received wasn’t too illuminating. It stated that a consultation would be launched in the UK at the start of December 2023.

That consultation did start, and it finally concluded at the start of February 2024. December and January were pretty crap months with all of the uncertainty. I wanted to stay, but I just didn’t know. In the end I received an offer to stay, which I accepted. Again, some good colleagues were informed that they were being let go. And some decided the time had come to move on anyway. I lament that both groups will no longer be my colleagues but all that I can do is wish them all well and hope that our paths cross again.

So, why did I want to stay? Hopefully that’s already obvious. I’m a VMware fanboy! I love the technology, I love the people. The solutions we create are amongst the best in the IT world. Of course, VMware has its detractors. Many of them have spread unsubstantiated FUD both during and after the acquisition. But that’s nothing new and some of them have been at it for years! And like I said before, VMware (and by extension, Broadcom) hasn’t done everything right. But I still believe.