Hock (or, more likely, one of his ghostwriters) just published this blog post - https://www.broadcom.com/blog/broadcom-and-vmware-investing-for-customer-value.
If you are reading this, regulators and analysts, please don't believe this garbage from Hock.
Hock promising NOT to raise prices, and maintain quality support for customers of ALL sizes, fundamentally goes against Hock's history as CEO of AVGO and the business model he is so proud of. It would be like believing Hi---r when he implied he had no desire to invade the rest of Europe shortly after he had invaded and annexed Czechoslovakia and Poland.
He only has 2 levers to pull to achieve his goal of 8.5 billion EBIDTA in 3 years
- Reduce costs - IE lay off most of the company (this would be a strong negative effect on 99% of VMware's customers.)
- Raise prices - When has he ever not done this?
It's vital to remember Hock is not a technologist but a CFO. What could he possibly do to VMware's core products (vSphere, NSX, Aria) to make them so much better that he could increase sales without squeezing customers? VMware is hemorrhaging its top talent daily; how will he find better vSphere engineers than the ones that are leaving? How will he increase the quality of support, after he cuts 50 - 70% of VMware's staff?
I'm sorry Hock none of this adds up, and I call BS. I hope regulators and customers are smart enough to see that too.