Dell's Financial Merry-Go-Round Spins Again
In attempting to simplify, the debt-laden tech giant is creating yet another unsustainable structure.
Round and round Dell goes.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Dell Technologies Inc. is choosing the path of least resistance.
On Monday, the corporate computing giant announced steps to streamline its hodgepodge of technology companies. As a means of returning to the public market, Dell will buy out the DVMT tracking stock that’s meant to reflect the value of VMware Inc., a virtualization software maker it gained control of via its $67 billion merger with EMC Corp. in 2016. The terms of this latest deal are predictably complicated, but the net of it is that owners of the tracking stock can exchange their holdings for stock in a public Dell entity or $109-a-share in cash. The cash component will be funded via an $11 billion special dividend from VMware, which will maintain its existing publicly traded stub.