Starwood Hotels & Resorts will spin off its timeshare business into separate, public company.

Starwood Hotels is spinning off its 22 timeshare resorts into a separate, publicly traded company.

That business, now called Starwood Vacation Ownership, had revenue of about $640 million last year. It has sold more than $6 billion worth of timeshares to more than 220,000 buyers over the past 30 years.

Starwood said Tuesday that new company will establish long-term license agreements to maintain the company's affiliations with Westin and Sheraton.

The new company, which has yet to be named officially, will maintain its headquarters in Orlando, Florida.

The spinoff is expected to be completed by year's end.

Shares of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. jumped 7 percent before the opening bell.