Broadcom/VMware
We Don't Buy Companies. We Monetize Them.
$210B
Value Extracted
9
Key Initiatives
Broadcom buys enterprise-software companies and walks pricing up on captive customers rather than growing them. After its $61B VMware acquisition closed in November 2023, it killed perpetual licenses, raised the per-CPU core-licensing minimum from 16 to 72 cores on April 10, 2025, and triggered cases like AT&T's alleged 1,050% hike. EnshitifAi assigns Broadcom an Extraction Index of $210B.
The Story
Broadcom doesn't buy software companies to grow them. Broadcom buys software companies to stop growing them. The playbook refined at CA Technologies (2018) and Symantec Enterprise (2019) — cut engineering, concentrate on the 600 largest accounts, walk price up until the smaller customers leave, then walk it up again on the ones who can't — reached its mature form with the $61B VMware acquisition in November 2023. When 'Broadcom is buying your vendor' is the phrase your CIO fears most, that's product-market fit.
Common Questions
Is Broadcom/VMware enshittified?
Yes, and it is the textbook acquire-and-extract case. Within 18 months of the November 2023 VMware close, Broadcom killed perpetual licenses (January 2024), collapsed 8,000-plus SKUs into two subscription bundles, and raised prices 150 to 1,500 percent across 300,000-plus existing customers. AT&T alleged a 1,050 percent increase before settling confidentially in late 2024. By EnshitifAi's reckoning, that is post-acquisition value extraction by design.
What dark patterns does Broadcom/VMware use?
Forced bundling (you must buy the full VCF or VVF stack to keep the hypervisor you already owned), perpetual-license elimination to lock everyone into recurring subscriptions, and punitive core-licensing math. On April 10, 2025 the per-CPU minimum jumped from 16 to 72 cores, so an 8-core host now pays for 72 cores, plus a 20 percent surcharge for renewing past the anniversary date.
When did Broadcom start enshittifying its acquisitions?
The playbook predates VMware. Broadcom ran the same sequence at CA Technologies ($18.9B, 2018) and Symantec Enterprise Security ($10.7B, 2019): cut sales and engineering, divest, and concentrate on the largest strategic accounts. VMware (November 2023) was the mature form, including 2,800-plus layoffs by end of January 2024 and 2,000-plus partners terminated within 60 days. EnshitifAi treats 'Broadcom is buying your vendor' as the leading indicator of an extraction event.
Key Achievements
- 1
Raised VMware prices 150-1,500% across 300,000+ existing customers within 18 months of close — documented cases include AT&T at 1,050%, settled confidentially in November 2024 because a support lapse would have taken out FirstNet, the federal first-responder network
- 2
Killed perpetual VMware licenses in January 2024 and collapsed 8,000+ SKUs into two subscription bundles (VCF and VVF), forcing customers to buy entire capability stacks they don't use in order to retain the hypervisor they already owned
- 3
Established a 16-core-per-CPU licensing minimum — customers running 8-core hosts now pay for 16, effectively doubling licensed capacity on hardware that didn't change (the math doesn't math, as intended)
- 4
Filed mutual copyright infringement and breach-of-contract suits against Siemens in the District of Delaware in March 2025 over unlicensed VMware usage flagged during renewal; Siemens had counter-filed first, demanding support on products Broadcom was refusing to renew — multi-jurisdictional, now in discovery
- 5
Terminated 2,000+ authorized partners and resellers within 60 days of VMware close, centralizing the sales funnel on the top 600 strategic accounts; smaller customers lost their local channel and were offered direct-only terms with no negotiation leverage
- 6
Triggered the largest enterprise virtualization migration in two decades — Nutanix reports 30,000+ direct VMware replacements through Q1 FY2026 (40% of total bookings); Gartner reports Proxmox VE evaluations up 340% YoY; Fidelity's IT organization publicly warned of 'massive outages' during the transition window
- 7
Executed the same playbook at CA Technologies (2018, $18.9B) and Symantec Enterprise Security (2019, $10.7B) — identical sequence of sales-team cuts, divestitures, and strategic-account concentration; 'Broadcom is buying X' is now a tracked industry lead indicator for customer migration planning
- 8
Fired VMware's CEO, CFO, CTO, and most of the executive bench within 90 days of close, replacing institutional knowledge with Broadcom-pattern managers who could execute the playbook without the emotional attachment of having built the company
- 9
Cut 2,800+ VMware employees by the end of January 2024 — primarily engineering, sales-engineering, and partner-enablement roles, the same functions that produced the institutional trust with the customer base Broadcom now extracts against
Customers upset about the 2024 pricing simply haven't done their homework. The homework is: you're a VMware customer. The answer is: you will pay.
H. Tan
CEO, Franchise Asset Compounding
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