Dell reportedly in talks to take company private

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Struggling PC maker Dell is reportedly in talks with at least two private-equity firms to take the company private.

Dell's alleged talks were first reported on Monday by Bloomberg, which cited two unnamed people familiar with the matter. Shares of the company surged more than 12 percent in afternoon trading in response to the report.

Dell


Though Dell is reportedly exploring the option of going private, the move is not a done deal. The talks are said to be "preliminary," and may fall apart.

While the PC market continues to struggle, Dell has a net cash balance of $5.15 billion, giving it an opportunity for a leveraged buyout.

The latest data from Gartner forecast Dell's U.S. PC shipments to have dropped 16.5 percent in the holiday quarter that concluded 2012. Those losses came despite the recent launch of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system.

Beyond Dell, the larger PC market has also struggled in recent years. Those woes are partially attributed to Apple's iPad, which dominates the tablet market.

In fact, this year tablet shipments are expected to surpass those of notebook PCs. NPD DisplaySearch expects that 240 million tablets will be shipped in 2013, compared to 207 million notebooks.
«13

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 54
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member


    Up 15% earlier today. Now up 13%.

  • Reply 2 of 54
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Struggling PC maker Dell is reportedly in talks with at least two private-equity firms to take the company private.

    Is the main reason so they can keep just how bad they are doing from the public?
    While the PC market continues to struggle, Dell has a net cash balance of $5.15 billion, giving it an opportunity for a leveraged buyout.

    I think that's about the amount of cash Apple had on hand when Jobs took over.


    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.
  • Reply 3 of 54

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post

    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.


     


    Oh, c'mon... what fun is that.

  • Reply 4 of 54
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member


    It's very tempting!

  • Reply 5 of 54
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,855member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.


     


    OK, but does anyone have a link to the Muhammad Ali ad?

  • Reply 6 of 54


    So,


     


    Lenovo copies the MBP and other designs and is rising,


    Hp copies the MBP in a disgusting way (envy lol) and is rising,


    Asus copies the air and other designs and is rising,


    Samsung copies the air, the mini, etc and is rising,


     


    Meanwhile, when Dell was trying to up their game (they even launched a phone..) and stoping making crap, supports ubuntu, etc, the marketplace and IT world doesn't care, because it isn't neither cheap or Apple clones.


     


    The WIntel and IT world must disappear, they feed each other. Only Apple and maybe Google can change it.

  • Reply 7 of 54
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    So,

    Lenovo copies the MBP and other designs and is rising,
    Hp copies the MBP in a disgusting way (envy lol) and is rising,
    Asus copies the air and other designs and is rising,
    Samsung copies the air, the mini, etc and is rising,

    Meanwhile, when Dell was trying to up their game (they even launched a phone..) and stoping making crap, supports ubuntu, etc, the marketplace and IT world doesn't care, because it isn't neither cheap or Apple clones.

    The WIntel and IT world must disappear, they feed each other. Only Apple and maybe Google can change it.

    It's a bit unfair when you put it that way but if you look at the natural world that seems to be the order of things.
  • Reply 8 of 54


    Their sales didn't really fall that much last quarter, but I think the trendline makes their future quite obvious. They are not a player in the phone or tablet space and their share of the PC market is deteriorating. Taking them private would maximize their current value and Dell himself could retire.

  • Reply 8 of 54
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.

    Tough. He got the second part done, all Dell needs to do is act on the first part.
  • Reply 10 of 54
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    anonymouse wrote: »
    OK, but does anyone have a link to the Muhammad Ali ad?

    [VIDEO]

    link
  • Reply 11 of 54
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,855member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post







    link


     


    And, just in case anyone has trouble making out the dialog,


     


    Quote:


    Back up sucker! Back up. Come get me sucker, I'm dancing, I'm dancing! Follow me! No, I'm not there, I'm here! Whup. Here! Here! You out, sucker!


  • Reply 12 of 54
    wardcwardc Posts: 150member


    I am glad to hear Dell is struggling...it's been many years with the world being suckered into their cheap-o machines and second-rate hardware...a company that lacks no originality or ingenuity in their design...a wintel money-machine going down. This makes me very happy.

  • Reply 13 of 54


    WWMDD:  What would Michael Dell do ?


      "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders," Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.

  • Reply 14 of 54
    Publicly held stock is great when it appreciates or pays a reasonable dividend. Dell does neither for buy and hold owners.

    taking a stock private is done when the stock is believed to be under appreciated by the Market... When does Apple do the same? Then all those stock manipulators won't have Apple to kick around anymore ;-)
  • Reply 15 of 54
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,796member


    I would shut Dell down and give the money to its shareholders...

  • Reply 16 of 54
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Is the main reason so they can keep just how bad they are doing from the public?
    I think that's about the amount of cash Apple had on hand when Jobs took over.


    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.

    I think if I were Michael Dell wouldn't take my own advice (as given to Apple) rather I'd take the advice of a certain Steve Miller Band hit ... :D
  • Reply 17 of 54
    solipsismx wrote: »
    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.

    You're not the boss of me. /s
  • Reply 18 of 54
    <span style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17.265625px;">WWMDD:  What would Michael Dell do ?</span>

    [SIZE=14px]<span style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif;line-height:17.265625px;">  "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders," Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.</span>
    [/SIZE]

    Apple's success since the NeXT merger really was the best "revenge" Steve and Apple had on all the naysayers, doom prophets, and pundits who were saying stuff like this back in the 90s. They are all Mac users now.
  • Reply 19 of 54
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    Is the main reason so they can keep just how bad they are doing from the public?

    I think that's about the amount of cash Apple had on hand when Jobs took over.





    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.


    When Michael said that, I knew people who had worked for dell and they knew was an Apple person they sent me that quote and attempted to abuse me at the time. I simple said Michael may live to regret those words.

  • Reply 20 of 54
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    Is the main reason so they can keep just how bad they are doing from the public?

    I think that's about the amount of cash Apple had on hand when Jobs took over.





    PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NO ONE QUIP WHAT MICHAEL DELL SHOULD DO WITH THE COMPANY. WE HAVE HEARD IT FOR A DECADE NOW SINCE APPLE WAS RISING AND DELL WAS FALLING.


    Maybe HP is interested.  It might help HP get some customers.


     


    Actually, its pretty grim for corporations to buy PCs, what are their choices? HP, Dell, Lenovo and a bunch Asian PC companies that are used to selling to consumers rather than corporations.


     


    What a mess. Maybe Microsoft will buy them and turn themselves into a PC mfg and then rear end HP and all of the Asian companies by closing off Microsoft WIndows from being sold as an OEM, install on clone computer OSs, so they have to go only through Microsoft to buy hardware/software.

Sign In or Register to comment.