Doesn't matter
Apple should *still* be broken up and the money given back to the shareholders.
Dell is such a risky bet that it's a wonder shareholders invested their hard-earned cash in the stock in the first place. At least that is the impression given by Texan Mike, who outlined the challenges of remaining a PLC in an SEC filing as he steps up efforts to woo investors weeks before they vote on his $13.65 per share …
Just makes other vendors look better.
Do you really think that after the action (whatever it is) Dell will be the company it once was? I have doubts. It appears that other people who rely upon Dell for their boxen share similar thoughts.
Anyway, time will tell. Watch this space (next year) for an update.
Michael Dell is absolutely correct in what he says...refreshing to find this in one so willing to see the perils of an old style Dell that started, peaked and ploughed the PC fields so successfully. He knows and acknowledges what's happening while others still cling to dying ideals and dissipating activities...nothing wrong in being visionary.
Visionary is the same as seeing the writing on the wall.
A business whose model, or let's say 'raison d'etre', has been building stuff a few bucks cheaper than the other guy and selling it efficiently isn't well placed to pull of the sort of transformation that's required.
If Michael Dell can pull the business back to private ownership, then fair play to him, it's the only way to the transformation he foresees.
He's not trying to get the price down - the price is fixed. He's trying to get investors to choose his path. Of course, talking down (probably fairly realistically) the company brings the current price of the shares below his offer price, making it look more attractive to investors.
I've had a lot of exposure as customer and support engineer to Dell products in the last 15 years, and most of their kit has been good quality stuff. Hopefully the company will be able to come back to life in the way HP hasn't, and BlackBerry & Nokia won't.
You say: He's not trying to get the price down
Then you say: talking down ... the company brings the current price of the shares [down]
Way to contradict yourself. Well done sir. (Sorry I used "sir" if you are female. I guess a Dark Lord could just as easily be female.)
Er, no!
MS was in the midst of keeping themselves out of the pokey. If Apple had gone under at that point MS really would have been a monopoly in the PC world. It was worth pocket change to give Jobs 3% of the market and avoid permanent government regulation.
Breaking up with EMC was a mistake. Even though EMC kit is very cranky and cantankerous, they are an established player in the enterprise storage space and they lent Dell some credibility when they needed to land a serious storage deal. Instead, Dell thought they could play in the enterprise space with their Equalogic and Compellent (Eq-dell-ogic and Com-dell-ent) acquisitions, perhaps a good value in the SMB space, but enterprise kit it is not.
I used to work for Dell and I've met the man himself. Going private is absolutely the only way out of the mess: he came back to the company to turn it found, and Wall Street hasn't given him the leeway to tAke a hit for 4-6 quarters whilst the necessary changes are made. He has definitely got the right idea, and just needs the freedom to crack on and deliver