NeXT withdrew from the hardware business in 1993 and the company was renamed NeXT Software, Inc.; consequently, 300 of the 540 staff employees were laid off. NeXT negotiated to sell the hardware business, including the Fremont factory, to Canon which later pulled out of the deal. Work on the PowerPC machines was stopped, along with all hardware production. CEO of Sun Microsystems Scott McNealy announced plans to invest $10 million in 1993 and use NeXT software in future Sun systems. NeXT partnered with Sun to create OpenStep which is NeXTSTEP's application layer hosted on a third party operating system.