Intel selling half its stake in VMware

EMC and Cisco snag 1 million shares

By Austin Modine • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 5th November 2008 01:14 GMT

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Intel's investment arm plans to pawn half its stake in VMware, a recent regulatory filing has revealed.

The chip maker also disclosed it already sold 1 million shares to Cisco Systems and the virtualization house's parent company, EMC.

The stock shedding will total 4.75 million shares of the 9.5 million Intel purchased in July 2007 for a cool $219m. The deal was inked a month before VMware's IPO/Investor Beach Party back in the golden sunny days of tech investment bubble 2.0.

EMC and Cisco snatched up 500,000 shares apiece from Intel on October 30 for a price of $26.52 per share. Intel plans to sell an additional 3.75 million on the open market "approximately" on Tuesday.

Cisco was another early fan of VMware stock, staking a $150m claim just before the initial public offering. With the latest grab, Cisco's slice of VMware is about a tenth of a per cent larger, holding 1.7 per of the company's common stock. ®

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