After several months of negotiations Michael Dell has finally got shareholder approval of a $24.8bn (£15.7bn) offer to take the company private. At the end of the shareholder meeting debating the proposal last night it emerged that there were enough votes in favour of Mr Dell’s plans (about 65 per cent) for it to pass. Billionaire Carl C. Icahn’s plans to derail the deal failed but he managed to get a better price for the shareholders, bumped from $13.65 a share to $13.88 a share.
The deal will mean that after a quarter century being traded on Wall Street the company will soon again be able to steer an independent course with an eye on long term transformation. As with many such big restructurings of business, a few painful years might be ahead, with earning trimmed and unprofitable aspects of the business closed and sold off over the next few years. The big money backers gamble that the entrepreneurship of the founder who created the business from scratch can help it prosper once again.
Michael Dell said “I am pleased with this outcome and am energised to continue building Dell into the industry's leading provider of scalable, end-to-end technology solutions,” in a statement, following the announcement of the news.
Mr Dell’s financial partners in the deal, Silver Lake Partners, said a privately owned Dell would be able to choose the best timings for changes and take bigger risks in its decisions. Recently Dell has been making strategic investments in software and networking companies to bolster Dell’s services business, the New York Times says that $13 billion has been spent this way.
New 8-inch tablet – the Dell Venue
In related news Dell showed off a new 8-inch tablet at the IDF yesterday. The new Windows 8.1 device packs one of Intel’s new Bay Trail processors and the 8-inch screen offers a resolution of resolution of 1,280x800. Dell will be producing an optional keyboard and stylus accessory for the new ‘Venue’ tablet.
