EMC
EMC CEO Joe Tucci
According to Recode, VMware is looking at the option of buying out the 80% stake of its company owned by EMC, in a transaction called downstream merger.
The way it works is pretty complicated as it's not a common merger deal. VMware would apparently issue new shares worth $50 billion to $55 billion, and then spend about $30 billion worth of that stock to buy the 80% ownership EMC has. The remaining $20 billion or so of shares will be given to current EMC shareholders. VMware was valued at about $36.5 billion as of Wednesday's close.
The report said the new downstream merger deal was proposed because VMware stock is currently valued higher than EMC's in the public market. VMware's 12-month forward looking price-to-earnings ratio, a metric used to gauge the company's value relative to what it's expected to make in the next year, is at about 18.99 versus EMC's 12.85.
The combined entity would also help EMC reach its goal of saving $850 million in annual expenses, the report said. It added there's still a chance that the deal may not materialize at all.
EMC, best known for selling storage hardware, acquired VMware, a cloud virtualization company, for roughly $625 million in 2003. Then in 2007, it sold about 15% of VMware in an IPO.
In July 2014, activist investor Elliott Management spent more than $1 billion to take a 2% ownership of EMC, making it one of the largest shareholders of the data storage firm.
Since then, Elliott has pressured EMC to spin off VMware, arguing the move would boost both of their values, while also easing some of the competition in areas they're both in.
EMC CEO Joe Tucci has consistently opposed a spin off of VMware in the past, saying the current structure creates more value.
EMC shares were up over 3% today.
EMC declined to comment, and VMware and Elliot Management did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.