Is Dell’s Buyout Move Coming This Monday?
Dell, the third biggest PC manufacturer in the world, could be a private company by the time the weekend is over. While most of use are planning Super Bowl parties (go 49ers!), Dell founder and chief executive officer Michael Dell, along with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, are trying to finalize a a potential $24 billion deal that would shift majority control of the PC maker to its founder.
Silver Lake and Microsoft would then become minority investors, with Michael Dell owning 51 percent of the company. Why go private?
One of the main reasons is it would allow Michael Dell and his partners to transform the computer company however they see fit and without having to answer to a Board of Directors who might not agree with whatever strategy is put in place. Outside of Lenovo, most OEMs are struggling in the PC market, as consumers have turned their attention to mobile devices, like tablets and smartphones.
Image Source: Flickr (Axel Schwenke)
Michael Dell hasn't said what specifically he would do differently if he had unfettered control (and he's not talking about the potential buyout at all), though towards the end of 2011, he went on record calling the post PC era talk "complete nonsense."
"There are a billion a half PCs n the world and while Gartner changes their estimate here and there, they also estimate there will be two billion PCs in the world by 2014. So when I took at that, I think the idea that the PC is no longer here is complete nonsense," Michael Dell told the Financial Times in an interview.
It's hard to imagine this deal not going through at this point, it's just a matter of when all sides can finalize the paper work.
Silver Lake and Microsoft would then become minority investors, with Michael Dell owning 51 percent of the company. Why go private?
One of the main reasons is it would allow Michael Dell and his partners to transform the computer company however they see fit and without having to answer to a Board of Directors who might not agree with whatever strategy is put in place. Outside of Lenovo, most OEMs are struggling in the PC market, as consumers have turned their attention to mobile devices, like tablets and smartphones.
Image Source: Flickr (Axel Schwenke)
Michael Dell hasn't said what specifically he would do differently if he had unfettered control (and he's not talking about the potential buyout at all), though towards the end of 2011, he went on record calling the post PC era talk "complete nonsense."
"There are a billion a half PCs n the world and while Gartner changes their estimate here and there, they also estimate there will be two billion PCs in the world by 2014. So when I took at that, I think the idea that the PC is no longer here is complete nonsense," Michael Dell told the Financial Times in an interview.
It's hard to imagine this deal not going through at this point, it's just a matter of when all sides can finalize the paper work.
