Dell Officially Goes Private For $24.4B

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Wow, that is a whole lot of money right there. :eek:

Dell this morning said it has agreed to go private at $13.65 a share in cash in a leveraged buyout led by founder, chairman and CEO Michael Dell, in partnership with the private equity firm Silver Lake. The deal is worth about $24.4 billion.
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Maybe now they can start capitalizing on the mobile market, without shareholders telling them to make more desktops.
 
WorldExclusive said:
Maybe now they can start capitalizing on the mobile market, without shareholders telling them to make more desktops.
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You know, they are a huge player in the large company/enterprise laptop, desktop and server market. Hell, played correctly, that market share DELL has can fund any new experiments they want to play with on the mobile market.
 
I heard that this way Dell can attempt things that shareholders would not allow. Public company means that you need to justify your actions to the almighty shareholder, whereas now they can do whatever they feel like. (legally)
 
ballistic90 said:
You know, they are a huge player in the large company/enterprise laptop, desktop and server market. Hell, played correctly, that market share DELL has can fund any new experiments they want to play with on the mobile market.
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Except MS's presence is the turd in that punch bowl - see Nokia.

GL! to all concerned, but I think this has the potential to go over even less well than when HP payed a similar figure for Compaq.

HP's purchase price of Compaq was approximately $24.2 billion
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http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1019181/when-hp-bought-compaq-crock
 
Michael Dell is brave. I hope he's got a lot of billion dollar ideas.
 
Good. Now Wall Street can't prevent Dell from moving forward. Investors all read the same rubbish from the dusty old newspapers and "pros" in the market... yeah screw all of that.

Dell can figure out what's good for them as a company and not be penalized for it because Grandpa CEO at a big investing firm doesn't like change and doesn't want to lose money.
 
Flyboat said:
What is point going private? Selling off some branches?
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The company can do what they want, rather than what the board wants, which is to earn the most profit. A good example is that Dell wants the company to go another direction than they are going and if it's his company, rather than a public company, there's no one to convince except himself.

Monkey God said:
Theres a whole slew of federal regulations public companies have to deal with which can significantly drive up operating costs.
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Monkey, I think the idea that a public company has to deal with ensuring profits to the board and shareholders every quarter, which sometimes requires really stupid decisions, bending to pressure, and layoffs has more to do with "going private" than the red tape associated with it.

If you're trying to make a political statement here it's not working.
 
The deal will be financed by a combination of cash and equity contributed by Michael Dell, cash from Silver Lake, a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, the rollover of existing debt, and new debt financing arranged by BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets, and cash on hand.
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Not exactly "don't have to answer to anyone".

Interesting nonetheless.
 
I hope this turns out well for Dell and that they can bring some inovation to the market. This should definitely give them a little more freedom.
 
bigdogchris said:
Monkey, I think the idea that a public company has to deal with ensuring profits to the board and shareholders every quarter, which sometimes requires really stupid decisions, bending to pressure, and layoffs has more to do with "going private" than the red tape associated with it.

If you're trying to make a political statement here it's not working.
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Well, avoiding SOX and the new Conflict Mineral rules (both of which apply only to publicly traded companies) is a nice fringe benefit ... also it is much easier to manage the social responsibility data if you are private (since you don't have to be so forthcoming with your supplier information) ... environmental and safety rules are universal and public or private status doesn't help there ... my employer is working on the Conflict Mineral stuff right now and it is a royal pain ... Dell definitely benefits from not having to deal with it ;)

I would agree that the ability to determine your own direction is the primary reason a company would go private ... not to avoid painful government reporting requirements :cool:
 
Wonder if Microsoft will use the 2 Billion loan as a stick to make Dell manufacture & give them a better price on making a Surface Tablet in the future...
 
bigdogchris said:
Monkey, I think the idea that a public company has to deal with ensuring profits to the board and shareholders every quarter, which sometimes requires really stupid decisions, bending to pressure, and layoffs has more to do with "going private" than the red tape associated with it.

If you're trying to make a political statement here it's not working.
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No, I am talking about Sarbox and other regulatory Ilk.
 
I really what to see where they go now with all the stings cut off. :D
 
jstnomega said:
Except MS's presence is the turd in that punch bowl - see Nokia.
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Exactly. So instead of making mobile devices that consumers want, Android and Chromebook. They'll be making more unpopular Windows products.

Just in case anyone's forgotten what teaming up with MS did to Nokia.
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BladeVenom said:
Exactly. So instead of making mobile devices that consumers want, Android and Chromebook. They'll be making more unpopular Windows products.
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You are assuming that Dell is aiming solely for consumer space ... some of the analysis of this move I have seen indicates that this is about Dell becoming the IBM for Small and Medium Business ... their investors weren't happy with this approach since profits were down but they were pulling in 60 Billion a year with that model (nothing too shabby there) ... MS has a much stronger stake with business and will help them in that environment far more than Google or Android would ;)
 
Flyboat said:
What is point going private? Selling off some branches?
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Freedom/Responsiveness. They can act without waiting for permission.

They can start making big changes right away. If something shifts they can shift instantly to fix without going back to share-holders/wall street for permission.

The re-org the whole business with freedom until the books look good, then they can IPO again and get richer.
 
I'm actually really excited about this. Public companies have too many cooks in the kitchen and the vast majority of them have no interest in turning out anything but the cheapest product they can get people to buy.
 
Good luck Dell hope you guys can increase competition in all fronts (if possible).
 
Oldie said:
I'm actually really excited about this. Public companies have too many cooks in the kitchen and the vast majority of them have no interest in turning out anything but the cheapest product they can get people to buy.
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And it has nothing to do with me being a consumer and also an investor for retirement. The same people bitching about products are also the ones demanding double digit returns
 
I love private companies. So glad to see Michael Dell taking his company back. I hope they do well in whatever markets they decide to enter.
 
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