What's Next for VMware Employees? Leaked Broadcom Email Shows 3 Options

Broadcom has outlined to VMware senior management the three possible paths for VMware employees when Broadcom’s massive acquisition of the IT and cloud computing provider closes Oct. 30.

According to an email obtained by Business Insider, VMware employees on the first day of the combined company will get an offer for a job, an offer for a transitional job or receive a severance package. The email, which reportedly went out to VMware senior management, states that notifications may not occur until after the Oct. 30 closing date. However, VMware does plan to let people know by “mid to late October,” according to the email.

Furthermore, managers “are unlikely to know about their or their team’s status ahead of time,” Business Insider reports. VMware employees also probably will not get to choose their options, according to the email.

The email came after VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram and chief people officer Betsy Sutter reportedly met with their senior directors to share updates on the merger integration.

Broadcom’s pending $61 million purchase of VMware is one of the largest in the history of the IT industry, and rumors of layoffs that will stem from the deal have captured the attention of the channel.

3 Options for VMware Employees

The first option is simple. VMware employees may “receive a Broadcom offer,” according to the letter.

Second, they may get an offer for a “transitional role.” These jobs, which are “few in number,” will last for a certain amount of months after the close of the deal. A severance package will follow after the end of the job, according to the letter.

Third, they may receive a severance package from the start, signaling that they do not have a job at the combined company.

The leaked letter does not seem to have generated much surprise among some of the forums that are closely following the situation.

“Every acquisition Broadcom (previously Avago) has followed this same model,” wrote one commenter on TheLayoff.com. “Just so people know, they have already decided where 90-plus percent are going (stay, temporary stay, gone day one). It is nothing personal. Broadcom’s business model is to buy companies with incompetent management but sticky products. They keep that business units with successful products, sell the garbage divisions that play around using corporate money to other stupid companies, and force the remaining division leads too become way more profitable by dumping the people that do nothing.”

In addition, some commenters voiced pleasure that the email specifically states that managers may not know the status of their team members in advance.

“The old VMware management will be resistant but those that don’t follow the model will ‘retire’ and new GMs will take over that do follow the model,” the same commenter said. “Rinse, repeat.”

Acquisition Background

The announcement about their intent to merge came in May 2022, but regulatory hurdles have delayed the integration. Most notably, Broadcom needed to answer questions from European regulators about whether it would “degrade interoperability” with VMware’s existing hardware partners.

But last month the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority approved the deal, setting the runway for an Oct. 30 closing date.