Dive Brief:
- VMware announced Tuesday that its Chief Operating Officer Carl Eschenbach will resign. According to a Fortune report, Eschenbach is moving to become a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital.
- VMware has recently seen a number of personnel changes as Dell’s purchase of its parent company, EMC, moves closer to completion. The deal is expected to close before the end of Dell's third quarter in July.
- CFO Jonathan Chadwick, also co-COO, left VMware at the end of January, the same time the company announced plans to cut 800 jobs by the end of March or mid-April.
Dive Insight:
VMware representatives said Eschenbach’s duties will be distributed among several executives. Zane Rowe, EMC's CFO, took the reins as VMware's financial lead Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the European Commission officially approved the Dell-EMC merger this week — the last major regulatory hurdle required to finalize the deal. U.S. regulators approved the merger back in February. The companies are still awaiting regulatory approval in smaller markets, but don’t expect to see any issues now that both the EU and the U.S. have approved. The deal also must be approved by shareholders.
Last year, Dell agreed to purchase EMC for a record $67 million. Dell’s founder, Michael Dell, was looking to move away from the PC hardware market and into areas such as cloud computing, mobility and cybersecurity. Once the deal between Dell and EMC is complete, some speculate that Dell will move to sell VMware.
