Intel dumps VMware shares

INTEL CAPITAL is to flog some 3.75 million of the 9.5 million shares it holds in virtualisation outfit VMware, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing reveals.

Cisco bought half a million VMware shares from Intel last week. It paid a total of $13.26 million for the shares, or $26.52 a share. Intel also flogged another half a million back to EMC, which owns close to 90 per cent of VMware.

Intel paid $23 a share, when it bought into the company in July 2007. Since then, the husband and wife team running VMware have departed. In July, CEO Diane Green was sacked with husband, Mendel Rosenblum resigning shortly after.

Now, Microsoft also has its beady eye on VMware's virtualisation space.

Intel will be selling shares on the open market once it opens today. µ