[Infowarrior] - VMware Fusion, Workstation team culled in company restructure

[Richard Forno]

VMware Fusion, Workstation team culled in company restructure

by Sean Gallagher - Jan 27, 2016 5:08pm EST

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/01/vmware-fusion-workstation-team-culled-in-company-restructure/

Company says it's just "transitioning" as part of reorganization, products will be supported.

Members of VMware's "Hosted UI" team—the developers responsible for the virtualization company's Workstation and Fusion desktop products—were apparently laid off on Monday as part of a restructuring of the company that was announced yesterday. The developers were just a part of a larger layoff as the company moved to cut costs and brought aboard a new chief financial officer.

"VMware… announced a restructuring and realignment of approximately 800 roles," a company spokesperson said in a press release Monday, "and plans to take a GAAP charge estimated to be between $55 million and $65 million related to this action over the course of the first half of 2016. The company plans to reinvest the associated savings in field, technical and support resources associated with growth products."

In a blog post, Christian Hammond, a former member of the Hosted UI team, reported the layoff, along with concerns about the future of the "award winning and profitable" desktop virtualization products. "VMware lost a lot of amazing people, and will be feeling that for some time to come, once they realize what they’ve done," Hammond wrote. "It’s a shame. As for our team, well, I think everyone will do just fine. Some of the best companies in the Silicon Valley are full of ex-VMware members, many former Hosted UI, who would probably welcome the chance to work with their teammates again."

When contacted to comment, a VMware spokesman said that the company was committed to continuing development and support for Fusion and Workstation and that the company was "transitioning the Fusion and Workstation teams to co-locate" with the rest of the company as part of its reorganization. "Our commitment to Fusion and Workstation products is unchanged," he said.

VMware was acquired by EMC in 2004, which offered 15 percent of VMware's stock in a 2007 initial public offering. EMC is in the process of being acquired by Dell, which would give Dell a majority stake in VMware (though the company will remain independent). Despite being profitable, VMware's stock valuation has fallen since the EMC acquisition was announced in October. Part of the fall might be attributed to the decision by VMware and EMC to spin off their joint cloud virtualization venture Virtustream as a separate company—and the fact that Dell might decide to sell off EMC's 80-percent stake in VMware to cover some of the cost of the acquisition.

In other words, blame Michael Dell.

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It's better to burn out than fade away.