‘Diamonds and Turds’: How Hock Tan Turned Broadcom Into Nvidia’s Nightmare
The chipmaker has gone from a sleepy business to a trillion-dollar company through megadeals and deeply unsentimental management.
Early last year, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan decided to host what he likes to call a “coffee chat” with the employees of VMware, the software giant that the Broadcom CEO had recently purchased for $84 billion. The companywide meeting was Tan’s effort to introduce himself and answer questions from those employees about life at the semiconductor firm.
At that time, VMware’s Palo Alto, Calif., campus sprawled over 18 buildings and 100 acres of delicately pruned gardens, an outdoor amphitheater and a turtle pond. Employees enjoyed nice HR perks, too, including child care, marital counseling and an annual $1,000 “wellbeing” allowance for anything from dumbbells to Xboxes.
When Tan opened the discussion up to questions, a VMware employee asked if Broadcom provided such benefits. Tan seemed surprised. “Why would I do any of that? I’m not your dad,” he replied, according to three people in attendance.