Dell Technologies is indeed looking to monetize its VMware investment, which could include a spin-off of its ownership stake to current Dell Technologies shareholders. The official acknowledgment followed reports of a potential sale that surfaced last month.

In a statement, the company said that it was “exploring a potential spin-off of its 81% equity ownership interest in VMware.” The goal would be to simplify its “capital structures” and create “additional long-term enterprise value.”

Dell Technologies added that if it does move forward with a spin-off that it would be structured as a tax-free move for U.S. federal income tax purposes and not occur until at least September 2021. It would also include commercial agreements between the two companies similar to what are already in place.

“This includes go-to-market, services, research and development, and intellectual property agreements between Dell Technologies and VMware, providing ongoing strategic benefits and continued support for customers of both companies following any spin-off,” Dell Technologies noted in a statement.

VMware continues to be a significant financial driver for Dell Technologies. The subsidiary’s most recent results exceeded expectations and helped to brighten what was a cautious tone set by Dell Technologies tied to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Dell Technologies initially acquired its 81% control over VMware as part of the EMC merger. That deal also included EMC’s Pivotal and RSA businesses. At that time, Dell Technologies was a private company and EMC was public, with the resulting company being private.

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell eventually managed to take his enlarged operations public in 2018, a process that did not involve a formal initial public offering.

Dell Technologies’ acknowledgment followed a report late last month from The Wall Street Journal about just such a move. That report cited “people familiar with the matter” indicating the review process could include “unloading the stake or taking other steps that could include buying the rest of the cloud-software giant.” It noted the review was focused on two outcomes: reducing Dell Technologies’ considerable debt load and goosing its lagging stock price.

Dell Technologies is sitting on approximately $57 billion in gross debt and $44 billion in net debt, according to a recent report from BMO Capital Markets.

Dell Technologies CTO Tom Sweet noted in a recent blog post that the company was focused on its capital structure and debt.

“We are focused on creating long-term value for stakeholders and optimizing our capital structure,” Sweet wrote. “Our liquidity position is strong with more than $13 billion of cash and investments at the end of our first fiscal quarter. … We intend to reduce core debt by roughly $5.5 billion this fiscal year and use the proceeds from our first quarter bond issuance to pay down an additional $2.25 billion this year.”

The report and now official acknowledgment have also had a rollercoaster impact on Dell Technologies’ and VMware’s stock price.

Dell Technologies’ stock was trading up nearly 14% early Thursday, which included it hitting a new 52-week high of $61.63 per share.

VMware’s stock price initially spiked following The Wall Street Journal report last month. However, it quickly lost all of those gains and more over the past couple of weeks in line with a general market downturn. The latest news has caused a more modest surge, with the stock trading up more than 1% early Thursday.