VIRTUALIZATION COMPANY VMWARE STARTS CUTTING 800 JOBS, INCLUDING IN COLORADO

VMware Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif., virtualization firm with offices in Broomfield and Colorado Springs, began cutting 800 jobs this week. An unspecified number of jobs were in Colorado.

“We have not announced the number of positions that have been eliminated for specific locations of business units,” Michael Thacker, a company spokesman, said in an e- mail. “I can confirm we have not announced any office closures in Colorado.”

According to the city of Broomfield, VMware is among its top employers, with 158 workers.

VMware rose to fame because of its virtualization software, which allowed, for example, businesses to access the Windows operating system on aMac computer.

It expanded in the Denver area in 2008, leasing 50,000 square feet of office space at the Interlocken Business Park. At the time, it planned to add 300 jobs.

VMware, whose parent EMC Corp. is being acquired by Dell Inc. for $ 67 billion, announced the job cuts during its fourth- quarter earnings report Tuesday.

VMware will take a $ 55 million to $ 65 million charge because of the layoffs and will “reinvest the associated savings in field, technical and support resources associated with growth products.”

The company employed 18,000 people worldwide at the end of 2014, according to its annual report.