Michael Dell buys.. Dell

[HarryT]

BBC News are reporting that Michael Dell has bought Dell Computers and taken it off the stock market, in a deal worth a reported $24.4bn. I wonder what the motivation for that was? To bring it back under his personal control, perhaps?

EDIT: Story now up on the news site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21342632

[pl001]

Interesting. My first new computer was a Dell back in the 90s. What a different experience back then. Here's to hoping Dell gets back to its roots.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by HarryT

BBC News are reporting that Michael Dell has bought Dell Computers and taken it off the stock market, in a deal worth a reported $24.4bn. I wonder what the motivation for that was? To bring it back under his personal control, perhaps?

To put it in perspective it is hardly that he has personally bought it, but he is the visible face of the deal. Motivation to keep it from going under and losing the entire value of his ~14% existing stake.

[wizwor]

I love this and will be watching carefully. This may be a new model for innovative companies -- raise venture capital to launch a new idea, buy back the stock, and go private.

In my unschooled opinion, this is the cure for stock market speculation. With a majority of the stock held by true fans of the company, the management team can focus on company and products rather than stock price. For the same reasons, I'd love to see these companies reward stockholders with dividends -- a share of the success -- instead of price growth.

Good luck Michael Dell. I look forward to buying a Dell computer that is not built for accountants.

[Penforhire]

This has been coming for quite a while now. I wish him well.

Dell tried hard in the past to be innovative, all the way back to Windows CE phones. They were not successful. I wonder what he thinks he has up his sleeve now? I still respect their business class laptops but I don't see wild success in their future.

[daffy4u]

I still own 2 Dells, a 1420 laptop (used a a media server now) and a 530 desktop both purchased in 2008 and still running strong. I also own some stock in Dell so I'll be waiting for my check Mr. Dell.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I still own 2 Dells, a 1420 laptop (used a a media server now) and a 530 desktop both purchased in 2008 and still running strong. I also own some stock in Dell so I'll be waiting for my check Mr. Dell.

My first computer was a Dell, and except for my ASUS netbook, I've bought Dell ever since. My first flat-screen TV was even a Dell. I've never had any major problems, and small problems were always rectified promptly.

I also have a few shares of stock in Dell, and I'm not too happy about the $13.65 price, but, oh well.

[pdurrant]

Interesting that Dell has taken his own advice to "shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."

[fjtorres]

Dell came back as CEO after the company went off the rails without him. By taking it private again he can now run the company as if it were once again a start-up. Considering the investors he lined up to raise the US$20B worth of money for the buyback he must have a convincing story to tell.
Hopefully it will work; in his day Dell was a very consumer-friendly company that made good PCs at good prices.

[morriss003]

According to CNBC, total PC sales dropped last year, the first time that has happened since the PC was introduced.

[wizwor]

Define total PC sales. I contend that this includes desktops, laptops, and tablets. Given this definition, sales are up.

[EowynCarter]

PC are losing market to tablets and laptop, but for games and productive stuff, they'll stay.

[Sil_liS]

Well, I bought a laptop from Dell a year and a half ago and I get ads form Dell. The one that I've received yesterday was about this:



Maybe Microsoft thought that this system will be good to show off Windows 8.

The buy-out of the remaining shares will be carried out by a consortium made up of Mr Dell himself, his own investment fund, and Silver Lake. It will be financed by loans from four banks, and by a $2bn loan from Microsoft.

[SeaKing]

I have bought several Dells. This one I am on now is the last that still runs. A desk top over 10 years old. I have added to it and maxed out its capability, though there is a possibility of upping the CPU by 10 to 15% or so. For now though I consider this a niche computer. Not very fast for video and not able to easily handle huge website pages like the new radar online.

But the machine just runs and runs. Usually on 24x7.

Dell tried to do other things and spent a lot of bucks.
Lost a lot of money on TVs and Household integration. Makes it interesting as we watch to see what Apple will do with TVs.

They had some good PDAs. I know people that still run them.

It will be interesting.

[DuckieTigger]

Maybe it will start a trend of more Silicon-Valley companies going private. Have to see how Dell is doing now financially. Except we can't actually see any more how they do financially. They can do whatever they want now. As long as they make 1$ profit a year (after all expenses), they do good. Any more is just a plus. Beeing private they can afford to do that.