Dell goes private: behind the struggling computer company’s $25 billion buyout – The Verge

Regulators approve Dell’s $25 billion buyout deal

2013-10-01T13:48:11-04:00

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Dell just announced that the company has received "all the necessary regulatory clearances" to go ahead with its $25 billion buyout deal, funded by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partnerships. Shareholders had approved the deal earlier this month by a 65 percent margin, but various federal regulators were required to sign off before it could officially proceed. The company now expects the deal to officially close before the third quarter of 2014. In an earlier statement, Michael Dell said the new ownership structure will "open an exciting new chapter for Dell."

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Michael Dell promises ‘another significant wave of tablets’ as he takes the company private

2013-09-25T16:54:35-04:00

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Dell might not be interested in smartphones, but the company's planning plenty of slates. In an interview with AllThingsD, company CEO Michael Dell said that we should expect "another significant wave of tablets from us in the coming weeks." Though Dell recently dropped its Windows RT offering, we think we might know what he's talking about. On October 2nd, the company's planning to reintroduce its Venue brand, including an 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablet called the Venue 8 Pro.

The thrust of AllThingsD's interview wasn't about consumer products, though, but rather where Michael Dell intends to take the company now that Dell shareholders have app …

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Dell shareholders approve $25 billion buyout to go private

2013-09-12T10:20:20-04:00

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Michael Dell has finally wrestled control of Dell, the company he founded, back from its shareholders. A board vote this morning ends month of speculation on whether it would approve Michael Dell's multibillion-dollar offer to take the company private. Dell's offer saw strong competition in the form of a counteroffer from "activist investor" Carl Icahn, but Icahn ultimately pulled the plug on his attempt, saying that it would be "almost impossible" to win today's shareholder vote.

"I am energized to continue building Dell."

The plan to take Dell private was almost approved back in July, but a series of postponements delayed the decision. Sin …

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Carl Icahn won’t seek to defeat Dell buyout but says it ‘greatly undervalues’ company

2013-09-09T10:44:03-04:00

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Carl Icahn will no longer attempt to defeat a $24.9 billion deal to take Dell private, though he maintains that Michael Dell and private equity firm Star Lake are lowballing shareholders. "We have determined that it would be almost impossible to win the battle on September 12th," Icahn wrote in a letter to shareholders today. "We therefore congratulate Michael Dell and I intend to call him to wish him good luck (he may need it)." Icahn is claiming a small victory, however; he points to the sweetened final offer from Michael Dell as proof that the company founder was feeling pressured by Southeastern. "As a result of this increase all stockho …

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Dell shareholders postpone decision on buyout proposals for another week

2013-07-18T09:25:51-04:00

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A meeting of Dell shareholders this morning had been expected to finally pass judgment on the protracted issue of whether to approve Michael Dell's $24.4 billion proposal to take the company private or Carl Icahn's counteroffer. Alas, the meeting only lasted a few brief moments, enough time for company director Alex Mandl to declare an adjournment of the decision until Wednesday, the 24th of July. Earlier in the week, Reuters came out with a report saying that Michael Dell did not have sufficient backing from investors to put his plan into effect, so the present delay appears to be an effort to buy more time to secure those last few votes.

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Icahn and Southeastern propose counteroffer to Dell buyout

2013-05-10T00:31:55-04:00

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Last month, Dell allowed Carl Icahn to come up with an alternative to founder Michael Dell's proprosed $24.4 billion buyout of the company, and now he and Southeastern Asset Management are telling shareholders what they have in mind. The Wall Street Journal reports that the plan would pay $12 a share in cash or stock, and while that's considerably lower than the $13.65 a share Michael Dell is proposing in his bid to take the company private, it would allow shareholders that don't want to sell to hold onto their shares.

Southeastern has been vocal about its expectations for a rebound

The remaining shares would remain publicly traded in what's …

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Blackstone withdraws $25 billion Dell bid

2013-04-18T21:39:11-04:00

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Dell indicated that it would take Carl Icahn's bid for the company seriously when it struck a deal with the billionaire investor earlier this week, and it may have more reason to do so now - multiple sources are reporting that Blackstone has now abandoned its rival offer. According to the Financial Times, Blackstone's investors weren't convinced of the deal's merits, and felt that Dell's value on the stock market is already fair. Blackstone's deal would have included an option for shareholders to hold onto their stake. With the private-equity firm seemingly out of the picture, however, Dell's committee may give further thought to Icahn's bid …

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Dell avoids hostile takeover from Carl Icahn, hopes for better deal

2013-04-16T10:02:17-04:00

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The wheeling and dealing as Dell continues its plan to go private continues. Today, the company announced that it struck a deal with investor Carl Icahn that will avoid the chance of a hostile takeover while also signaling that it will take his rival bid more seriously. Icahn and his team have agreed not to purchase more than 10 percent of Dell's shares, nor will they enter into agreements with other shareholders that would give the combined partnership more 15 percent of Dell's shares - effectively limiting his ability to gather up control of the company. Dell also granted Icahn a "limited waiver" which allows him to contact other Dell stoc …

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Dell says PC business in danger from poor Windows 8 sales, low revenue

2013-04-01T10:52:41-04:00

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While some Dell investors have taken issue with CEO Michael Dell's proposed plan to take his company private, an SEC filing has revealed some compelling reasons for investors to think twice about protesting the move. As noted by Forbes, a filing dated March 29th includes a lengthy section where Dell outlines the "risks and uncertainties" related to continued ownership of the company's stock - it's essentially a laundry list of how the consumer tech market has changed and how hasn't quite managed to keep up.

Difficulties that Dell notes in its filing include:

"…decreasing revenues in the market for desktop and notebook PCs and the significa …

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Dell details rival takeover bids from Blackstone and Carl Icahn

2013-03-25T07:31:35-04:00

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As reported on Saturday, Michael Dell's attempt to take Dell private has been challenged by a pair of rival bids. In a press release this morning, Dell's board confirmed that it has received "two alternative acquisition proposals" from investment group Blackstone and "activist investor" Carl Icahn. The computer giant also published details of the bids, revealing that both offer a higher per-share price than Michael Dell's $13.65 proposal, which valued the company at $24.4 billion.

Icahn's offer includes purchasing $2 billion of the firm's shares at $15-per-share and offering $2 billion of cash equity financing. This would be in addition to …

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