Dive Brief:

• Dell Technologies is considering filing for a U.S. initial public offering after reexamining its strategic future, reports the Wall Street Journal. The company, in the midst of accumulated debt, went private in 2013 under the direction of founder and CEO Michael Dell.

• Dell's potential public offering is likely owing to the impact of last month's tax bill, according to the report. Dell's tab is $2 billion in annual interest, but under the new law "companies' ability to deduct interest expense from their taxes at 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization" will be capped, according to the report.

• In addition to other major changes, Dell is reportedly considering buying the rest of VMware, which holds a market value of $50 billion. Dell merged with EMC, which majority owned VMware, in 2016 for a record $67 billion. 

Dive Insight:

In 2013, Dell went private to pursue more enterprise-focused hardware solutions while removing its efforts from the public eye.

But since its historic merger with EMC, Dell has shown substantial gains in the market. Dell EMC is currently thriving and surpassing its competitors, HPE and IBM, in the server market. HPE only slightly pushed Dell EMC out of the top spot after earning $3.2 billion in revenue over Dell EMC's $2.8 billion.

Prior to becoming Dell Technologies, EMC was the strongest force in the storage market, holding 19.2% of the market followed by HPE's 15.5% and Dell's 9.7%. Now, the merged company has seen enough of a comeback to have the confidence to pursue more acquisitions and opportunities.

The overall server market is beginning to slide as companies favor cloud-based storage, but Dell is also attempting to establish ground in the cloud market despite still needing some growth to catch up with competitors.