VMware will distribute a special cash dividend of between US$11.5 billion and US$12 billion to all its shareholders, including Dell, which will receive between US$9.3 billion and US$9.7 billion, in the transaction that is expected to be tax-free. The spinoff, first proposed in a filing last July, will help Dell lower its long-term debt of US$41.62 billion, much of which was taken on during its 2016 acquisition of data management firm EMC. VMware is currently Dell's best-performing unit and has benefited from companies looking to cut costs and move to the cloud, a shift that has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. VMware interim Chief Executive Officer Zane Rowe told Reuters in an interview that VMware will use between US$2.5 billion and US$3 billion of cash from its balance sheet to pay the dividend and fund the rest with debt. Rowe said VMware expects to have an investment-grade credit rating after the transaction.- Nampa/Reuters