"Has any of the following happened to you in the last 15 years?
...
5 - Left a job for other reasons under unfavorable circumstances
Answered:
Date: 09/85
Code: 5
Employer: Apple Computer"
...
5 - Left a job for other reasons under unfavorable circumstances
Answered:
Date: 09/85
Code: 5
Employer: Apple Computer"
Firing a company founder is probably the last thing any publicly traded would do. It's just not done. You'd have sympathetic stockholders rioting, the neutral ones now pissed at you, and every last member of the board fired as well.
"When Ms. Greene’s firing was announced to investors the next morning, VMware’s shares plunged 24 percent, and the high-flying company was thrown into a tailspin from which it has yet to recover."[1]
Since her departure it looks like VMWare has changed from an engineering driven company to acquisitions driven.
[1]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/technology/09vmware.html
the interviews show that everyone that knew and worked with him thought he resigned. only when they interviewed jobs did HE say he was fired.