It took Broadcom 18 months to get all of the requisite approvals needed to finalize its $61 billion purchase of VMware. But once the deal was sealed in late November, CEO Hock Tan moved swiftly, announcing layoffs of thousands of employees, selloffs of parts of the business, and shakeups to licensing terms that could prove costly to customers.
But Tan wasn’t done. In late December, Broadcom announced the abrupt termination of all of its partner agreements with VMware resellers and service providers. Broadcom is forcing existing partners to reapply for their roles, and analysts expect that only the largest resellers will make the cut. This potentially leaves smaller partners in the lurch and customers scrambling to find a new reseller or service provider.
