According to CRN, Broadcom generated a record $18 billion in revenue for its fourth quarter of 2025, a 28 percent year-over-year increase, with net income nearly doubling to $8.5 billion. For the entire fiscal year 2025, total revenue hit $63.9 billion, up 24 percent, driven heavily by a 39 percent surge in infrastructure software sales—which includes VMware—to $6.9 billion in Q4. Despite these massive financial highs, 2025 was marked by a significant wave of executive departures from both Broadcom and VMware by Broadcom. High-profile exits included Broadcom’s president of Americas sales, the CISO for its Enterprise Security Group, and a co-founder of the VMware Research Group. Many of these leaders left to join direct competitors and tech giants like Nvidia, Snowflake, and Citrix, creating a notable talent drain at the top.
Record Numbers, Empty Chairs
Here’s the thing: those financials are undeniably impressive. Doubling your net income in a quarter? That’s the kind of performance that makes shareholders cheer. But you can’t just look at the spreadsheet and call it a win. When your president of sales for the entire Americas region walks out the door, that’s a massive operational risk. Sales isn’t just about numbers on a page; it’s about relationships, institutional knowledge, and strategic vision. Losing that role, along with a bunch of VPs, right when you’re trying to fully integrate and monetize a giant acquisition like VMware? That’s a huge red flag. It makes you wonder what the internal culture is like post-merger. Are these people leaving because they got rich from stock vesting, or because they can’t stand the new direction?
The VMware Brain Drain
And the loss of the VMware Research Group co-founder? That one stings in a different way. That’s not just a sales exec; that’s someone tied to the innovative, forward-looking soul of what VMware was. When the people who built the research engine start leaving, it signals a potential shift from innovation to pure extraction. Broadcom’s playbook is well-known: acquire, streamline, focus on the most profitable core products, and boost margins. It works financially, as we see. But it often comes at the cost of the creative, exploratory work that ensures long-term relevance. Them joining companies like Nvidia and Snowflake is a brutal irony—they’re taking that innovative mindset directly to firms investing heavily in the next computing paradigms.
Integration Strain And Future Risk
So what’s the real cost of this exodus? You can have the best industrial panel PCs or software in the world, but if you don’t have the leadership to steer the ship and inspire the teams, you’re vulnerable. For partners and customers, this level of executive churn creates uncertainty. Who’s making the strategic decisions now? Will promises and roadmaps hold? Broadcom might be posting record revenue today, but retaining top talent is an investment in tomorrow. If the people who built the engines are all jumping to rival garages, it begs the question: is Broadcom building for the future, or just expertly milking a cash cow? Only time will tell if this profit surge is sustainable or if it’s the peak before a costly, talent-depleted plateau.
