Dell Technologies this afternoon said it has completed the planned spin-off of VMware via tax-free distribution of shares to Dell investors.

Dell first announced in mid-April that it would spin off its 81% majority stake in virtualization giant VMware. Dell last month announced October 29th as the date of the separation.

The two companies said at the time of the announcement in April that Dell plans to maintain the mutually beneficial strategic relationship currently in place between the two post-spin, including the co-development of products and alignment on sales and marketing. 

Also:VMware reports solid Q2 results with subscription and SaaS sales up 23%

VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram said in prepared remarks, "VMware's mission is to deliver the trusted software foundation that accelerates our customers' innovation."

Added Raghuram, "As a standalone company, we will continue to bring our multi-cloud strategy to life by providing our customers the power to accelerate their business and control their destiny in this new era."

The share distribution happened as an$11.5 billion special cash dividend of$27.40 a share to every Dell holder as of the close of business Friday, October 29th. 

Also:VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram is ready for more SaaS: Are his customers?