The main key to Computer Associates' fast growth was the acquisition of many lesser-sized software companies in the IBM mainframe industry segment.

[2] By 1970, UCC was experiencing financial difficulties, and Goodner, who admired some of Haefner's management practices, decided to leave and start his own firm that would engage in software product development.

[17][18] In 1973, Standard Data began offering the SYMBUG product for sale, which was a symbolic debugger for the COBOL programming language on the IBM mainframe VM/370 platform.

[8] One of them was Russell Artzt, who had met Wang in college, worked with him at Standard Data Corporation, was responsible for programming some of the early software products the new company was offering.

[37] CA's strategy for growth reached a new level with its deal for Uccel in 1987, which valued at $800 million was an order of magnitude larger than any of its previous acquisitions.

[2] Of Uccel's existing staff of 1,200 people, 550 were let go; this kind of harsh post-acquisition reduction measure was typical for the company and became a part of CA's public image.

"[40] Early in the decade, Computer Associates was forced to address criticism of the company as well as a sharp decline in its stock price, which fell more than 50 percent during 1990.

The ensuing changes included pushing into foreign markets (Japan, Canada, Africa, Latin America), reforming how the company charged its customers for software maintenance, and improving compatibility with products from other vendors, such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Apple Computer, and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

[7][54] Computer Associates received poor marks for customer relations, with a reputation of being more interested in making sales than providing support afterward.

"[55] Detractors of CA accused it of putting newly acquired software products into maintenance mode and milking them for cash flow.

[55] As Fortune wrote, "These products made it the barnacle of corporate America: Once you had CA software onboard, it was so onerous and expensive to pull it out that few customers ever did.

"[49] As some industry analysts observed, the culture of Computer Associates reflected Wang's personality and background, that of an immigrant educated at the non-elite Queens College, City University of New York.

[31][55] Wang did not admire or belong to the Silicon Valley mindset and either insulted or avoided its ecosystem of industry analysts and venture capitalists.

[50] The company's sales force was composed largely of people with blue-collar backgrounds from New York's outer boroughs and Long Island.

[50] Internally, as the Times wrote, "Over the years, [the company] has gained a reputation as a callous employer that dismisses workers without warning while top executives take home eight- and sometimes nine-figure pay packages.

[8] As Sam Wyly, the head of Sterling Software, reflected upon his decision in 2000 to sell that company to Computer Associates: "It wasn't easy for us because of our concern about the CA culture.

[31] A hybrid characterization was given in 2002 by Pansophic Systems founder Joseph A. Piscopo, who said that while his company, acquired in 1991, had suffered the typical fate of CA reducing it to just the minimal staff needed to keep maintenance revenue going, in a few cases CA did actually invest in companies it acquired as part of an internal product development strategy, with Cheyenne Software being one such instance.

[49] In that year, Sanjay Kumar replaced Wang as chief executive officer, with the latter remaining as chairman of Computer Associates' board of directors.

[60] In 2000, a shareholder-based class-action lawsuit accused CA of misstating more than $500 million in revenue in its 1998 and 1999 fiscal years in order to artificially inflate its stock price.

[61] In 2001, a proxy battle ensued between the board of directors and shareholders led by Wyly, who was unhappy with how CA was being run and especially with how his acquired Sterling Software was being treated.

[2] In the end, Wyly's two attempts failed; he gave up the struggle in 2002 and received a $10 million payment that was characterized as "greenmail" by some, but not all, industry analysts.

[63] Meanwhile, by early 2002 it was public knowledge that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York had instantiated investigations as to whether CA had engaged in accounting fraud.

[67] As one account from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania wrote, "The SEC said the goal was to meet or beat per-share earnings estimates of Wall Street analysts, a key to keeping a company's stock price rising.

[72] Most notably, in 2006 former CEO and chairman Kumar was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $8 million for his role in the massive accounting fraud at Computer Associates.

[98][99] In June 2014, CA Technologies moved its headquarters, without an announcement, from Islandia in Suffolk County, to 520 Madison Avenue in New York City.

[112] The irony of the reversal of positions did not go unnoticed, with The Register saying "CA Technologies, long a byword for making acquisitions, has been acquired by Broadcom.

[115] Then, Long Island-based Newsday reported that about 40 percent of all CA employees in the United States would be laid off, adding up to almost 2,000 people being let go.

[44] During the mid-1990s, Computer Associates realized it had an image problem, both externally and internally, and consequently created a public relations department within the company and also adopted some more employee-friendly human resources policies.

[137][138][139][140] In 2017, it was named to the Forbes list of America's Best Employers[141] and recognized with a STAR Award for Leadership and Innovation by the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA).

[142] In 2018, CA was named to the Thomson Reuters World's Top 100 Technology companies[143] and for six consecutive years has been the recipient of the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award from Customer Relationship Management Institute (CRMI).