No. 1: Broadcom To Acquire VMware In Blockbuster $61 Billion Deal

On May 26 Broadcom, a $27 billion supplier of semiconductor and infrastructure software products, and virtualization technology leader VMware disclosed an agreement for Broadcom to acquire VMware in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $61 billion. The announcement confirmed circulating reports of acquisition negotiations.

The acquisition deal came less than seven months after VMware, which had been majority-owned by Dell Technologies since 2016, became an independent, publicly traded company.

“Together with Broadcom, VMware will be even better positioned to deliver valuable, innovative solutions to even more of the world’s largest enterprises,” said Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, in a statement. (Michael Dell retained a 40 percent stake in VMware following its spin-off.) “This is a landmark moment for VMware and provides our shareholders and employees with the opportunity to participate in meaningful upside.”

“By adding VMware, we will bring significant scale to Broadcom’s software business, and reinforce our position as a premier provider of mission-critical platform solutions to enterprises globally,” Broadcom CEO Hock Tan told investors at the time of the announcement.

A 40-day go-shop period, during which VMware could consider other acquisition offers, ended in early July with no other suitors. The companies expect to complete the acquisition during Broadcom’s fiscal 2023, which begins Nov. 1, 2022.

Broadcom plans to integrate its current software portfolio with VMware, including technology from its earlier acquisitions of Brocade Communications Systems, CA Technologies and the Symantec enterprise security business. The company intends to invest in VMware partners, engineering and sales, Broadcom Software Group President Tom Krause promised in a blog post.

But VMware partners, customers, employees and other stakeholders have expressed skepticism about VMware’s future as part of Broadcom. VMware employees, at an online town hall in May following the acquisition news, voiced concerns about cultural synergies and asked: “Why should we stay?’ And a top executive at one national VMware partner, in an interview with CRN, had a message for Broadcom: “It’s a pretty simple message really: Don’t screw VMware up by forgetting about the partners.”

The acquisition has already hit one bump in that Krause, who was expected to lead VMware post-acquisition, left Broadcom on July 15 to become CEO of Citrix Systems, running that company and its Tibco Software acquisition.