Broadcom to lay off nearly 2,000 CA workers in U.S., company emails show

Broadcom Inc. plans to lay off nearly 2,000 of the 4,837 U.S. workers it inherited when it acquired CA Technologies, according to internal documents obtained by Newsday.

The $18.9 billion deal for Manhattan-based CA, a maker of enterprise software for mainframe computers, closed on Monday.

On Wednesday, Broadcom sent emails to all U.S. employees of its CA unit, designating 40.9 percent for layoffs and severance packages and the remaining 2,861 for retention.

Local employees said Wednesday they believed more than 300 workers at CA's Islandia office were losing their jobs, based on documents they received from the company. The office, which was CA's headquarters until 2014, had about 1,000 workers as of May.

One Islandia employee said she received an email from San Jose, California-based Broadcom with news of the impending layoff.

"Your last day in the office will be November 9, 2018," the email said. "Your actual termination date will be February 08, 2019." The employee asked not to be identified.

"Please do not name me but this story needs to be told!" she said.

A Broadcom spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on the layoff numbers or the emails sent to employees. 

"These are difficult, but necessary decisions and we work with impacted employees to help ensure they have appropriate services and support," the spokesperson said.

On Wednesday night, scores of CA employees--some being retained and others being laid off--crowded a TGI Fridays in Islandia to reminisce.

CA sold the 778,000-square-foot Islandia facility in 2006, and signed a lease on the building through August 2021 that calls for rent of about $1.4 million per month as of November, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Another local employee, who asked not to be named because of concerns about jeopardizing her severance package, said operations in Islandia would be condensed from four of the building's six floors to two.

The company e-mails sent to employees included an 88-page chart listing all U.S. jobs by title, supervisor, unit name, and the age of the employee. Each job also had a designation: "no" for employees who are being retained and "yes" for the 1,976 employees selected for separation.

The list began with 52-year-old chief executive Michael Gregoire, who was designated for separation. A change-in-control trigger in the contracts of Gregoire and other top CA executives makes them eligible for payments worth millions of dollars.

In March, President Donald Trump blocked Broadcom's planned acquisition of mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm Inc., citing national security concerns.

The following month, Broadcom moved its headquarters from Singapore to California, allowing it to skirt that issue in its acquisition of CA.

As of May, CA had about 11,000 employees worldwide.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.