VMware could lay off 5% of its workforce next week

VMware could announce that it will cut 900 jobs next week, or about 5% of its workforce, as part of bigger restructuring plan, unnamed sources told Bloomberg's Dina Bass.

VMware declined comment, with a spokesperson saying the company doesn't comment on rumor and speculation.

VMware employs 18,000.

The news could come as part of its earnings report scheduled for Tuesday, or might be announced on Monday, the person told Bass.

VMware has been under a lot of pressure and under a microscope.

Its shares took a tumble and never recovered after Dell announced plans to buy iVMware parent EMC, which plans to turn most of VMware's shares into a tracking stock. Rising new technologies like Docker's containers and Nutanix's hyper-converged systems using Nutanix's competing software are threatening its core business.

And it had to bail on a plan to create a new 50/50 joint company with its parent EMC and spin it out as a new company. That left investors and analysts bewildered about its plans to grab a share of the all-important cloud computing market now dominated by Amazon and Microsoft. It also left them wondering about the strength of its leadership while Dell and EMC are trying to merge.

Meanwhile, VMware reported weaker than expected bookings for the third quarter.