Tesco Sues Broadcom in a blockbuster £100 million ($135 million) lawsuit, claiming the tech titan abused its market dominance after sealing a $69 billion merger with VMware. The U.K.’s largest supermarket says Broadcom threatened to withdraw vital software and impose sky-high price increases of nearly 250%—a move Tesco likened to a corporate stranglehold.
“Take It or Leave It”
In filings before the High Court, Tesco accused Broadcom of using a “coercive, take-it-or-leave-it approach” to force the retailer into inflated licensing deals. The company claims Broadcom bundled VMware software into packages with “superfluous and duplicative licenses” that cost 237% more than its current agreement.
Tesco stressed that VMware’s software is mission-critical, powering store tills and logistics networks across the U.K. Without it, the retailer argued, operations would grind to a halt.
Fallout From a $69 Billion Merger
The lawsuit pins the dispute on the 2023 Broadcom–VMware merger, cleared by U.K. and EU regulators. According to Tesco, the changes began after Broadcom moved to “simplify” licensing by eliminating perpetual licenses and pushing customers into two costly package models.
Tesco said it had secured a perpetual license years ago and a subscription-based deal with reseller Computacenter (UK) Ltd. in 2021. But after the merger, Broadcom allegedly refused to renew that agreement, scrapped key products, and demanded a new package worth £15 million more—including licenses Tesco insists it already owns outright.
