Dell to Return Funds to Shareholders in $24 Billion Deal to Go Private

[Thunderbird]

I hear Ashton Kutcher is going to be starring in a movie biopic of Michael Dell.

[Bantz]

Originally Posted by a0me

You weren't implying that Dell was selling a laptop equivalent to a 15-inch MacBook Pro for only £400?
Because it sounded like you were, and that's just isn't true.

Yea I got a better speced machine for much less
It came with
Processor : Intel Core i7-3612 (up to 3.1 GHz)
Hard Drive : 750GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) 1 SR
Optical Drive : 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive 1 SR
Power Cord : UK 1M 1 SR
451-11870 Battery : Primary 6-cell 48W/HR LI-ION 1 SR
490-13285 Graphics : 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7730M
All for 450

The 15inch quad core i7 macbook pro is about 3 times that! oh no

[inkswamp]

I'm not going to repeat Michael Dell's famous shareholder's quote about Apple as many others have already done so, but I will point out that no matter how wealthy or powerful or on-top-of-the-world you are, there's just no room for that degree of hubris. Nothing lasts forever, and eventually, time and karma will b***h-slap even the greatest amongst us.

Imagine having a time machine though and going back to about 1998 and telling everyone that in a little over 12 years, Dell and Apple would have more or less swapped positions in the tech world. You would have been laughed out of the room. Amazing how rapidly and unpredictably things change in the tech world.

[a0me]

Originally Posted by Bantz

Yea I got a better speced machine for much less
It came with
Processor : Intel Core i7-3612 (up to 3.1 GHz)
Hard Drive : 750GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) 1 SR
Optical Drive : 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive 1 SR
Power Cord : UK 1M 1 SR
451-11870 Battery : Primary 6-cell 48W/HR LI-ION 1 SR
490-13285 Graphics : 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7730M
All for 450

Link?
All similarly specced Dell are in the $1200-1400 range.

[JAT]

Originally Posted by TMar

There is no such thing as the post-PC era. Anyone who believes that doesn't understand computers. It's not that people don't want or need computers but rather the fact that computing power has increased to the point where [a tablet is more than enough for them]. That is the reason for the sales slump the market has been in.

Um, did you miss the iPad and other tablets being sold in the last couple years? I edited your comment.

Originally Posted by designgeek

I bet Michael Dell is wishing he never made that comment about Apple doing this all those years ago.

It was just trash talk. Nothing to care about. Should have passed by like a puff of air, but people keep bringing it up. Just like all sorts of Jobs comments. It's like none of you have ever heard trash talk on a sports field/court/course...wait, that's probably true...nvm.

And this isn't that similar a situation. Michael has been talking about going private for years, IIRC. Can't find proof right now, every search result is less than 36 hours old due to this story.

[Verbatim Cookie]

Originally Posted by slffl

[...] I hate Michael Dell and his right-wing politics.

Originally Posted by winston1236

How dare he have an opinion differing from your own!

For one thing, political differences involve beliefs that are strongly held, unlike differences of opinion in other matters. For another thing, I remember reading during the election cycle for the presidential race in 2000 that Michael Dell was a huge contributor to George W. Bush and the Republican Party. I don't want to contribute to the income of such an individual by patronizing his business. (I also don't want to give Intel my business if I can help it — see my signature.)

[danpass]

A Dell P75 was my first PC. I got the big HD storage option too, 540MB

[Mr. McMac]

I'd hate to see Dell shut down. They still make excellent inexpensive monitors with a much better warranty policy than Apple

[melendezest]

Originally Posted by TMar

There is no such thing as the post-PC era. Anyone who believes that doesn't understand computers. It's not that people don't want or need computers but rather the fact that computing power has increased to the point where upgrade cycles are extremely long now. That is the reason for the sales slump the market has been in.

Gone are the days where upgrades provide dramatic performance improvements. The PC boom was happening when the internet was the driving force for those upgrades. An 5-8 year old computer is enough for what the vast majority of people do with one today.

These incremental upgrades are going to catch up to the phone and tablet market too in a few years and people are not going to need them as often. A few years after that the second hand market will be flooded with completely capable cheap devices and those markets will slump as well.

I flatly disagree. I believe the reason for the slump is that most people don't use traditional computers beyond the basic functionality that a tablet can provide. In other words, people are using tablets and smartphones more.

I think you are mistaken in saying that people that refer to the Post-PC era don't understand computers. I think that it is you who don't understand consumers. Apple, Google, and their tablets (and smartphones) do, and are laughing all the way to the bank. Sales figures of tablets vs PCs seem to reflect this.

[olegandbuster25]

had a badass dell
2000 dollar computer my dad bought for me back in 2004
about a year and a half later, the harddrive "blew up"
or thats what the altex guy said.
but i couldnt retrieve any of my stuff.

so no more dell for me.
...
or anything other than apple computers at this point hah.

[Deadeyeshark]

Taking the company private again will invigorate Dell, not having to bow to the whim of Wall Street and shareholders will allow for innovation.

Dell were renowned for making quality PC's many years ago, hopefully they can get back to that.

[Mackilroy]

I rather like my Dell monitors, though nearly every Dell laptop I've come across has been plagued with problems. Hopefully Dell can turn around and extend the quality of their monitors to the rest of their business.

[BC2009]

Originally Posted by MJL

Obviously you did not get burned in the dot com crash. Think about it.

Think about the peak and subsequent decline of the likes of Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Ericson, RIM amongst others. Have heard the same tribulations about those firms as that I have heard about Apple.

When has a half decent retailer gone broke?

Yes, I fully remember the dot-com crash and I got burned as the business I worked for lost all of its customers for which we built websites. I had enough sense not to jump on "bubble" stocks. Amazon is a bubble stock if you ever saw one. They are reminiscent of the no-profit big-future-promise stocks of the dot-com boom. Apple's stock is all about fundamentals: cash, revenue, profit, growth.

You talk as if you know something about the stock market because you can cite the fact that everything peaks and declines (incidentally some peak again). But your vague references to the "same tribulations" that you have heard about other companies and Apple do not change the fundamentals. Companies don't survive on rumors and media spin -- they survive on revenue and profit and cash assets to strategically invest.

Amazon has revenue, but no profit, and hardly any cash assets to strategically invest (because their wholesale and operations costs nearly match their revenue). Amazon has got to be the worst investment on the planet and it will blow up just like the dot-com stocks you referenced.

[rjohnstone]

Originally Posted by Mr. McMac

I'd hate to see Dell shut down. They still make excellent inexpensive monitors with a much better warranty policy than Apple

They're going private, not shutting down.

[Nightarchaon]

Interestingly , the company i work for (well know, large company, globally into payrolls) has started replacing its exclusively installed dell desktops and laptops , which we have had for many many years, with HPs now, wonder if the powers that be have had some sort of idea where dell is going, or not going, to be in a year or so ?

Wonder if they are going to focus on premium products and try and take Apple on Apples turf ?

[Macs4newbies]

What goes around sometimes comes back to bite you. Isn't that so Mr. dell?
JB
macs4newbies.com

[TheBSDGuy]

I've had the benefit and misfortune of working for several "start ups." Here's what I've observed:

1. If the startup is a partnership where the partners know and understand what they're getting into, it usually works out at least reasonably well.
2. If it's being done by Wall Street venture capitalists that look at nothing but bottom line figures, it's almost always a disaster - if not in the short term then certainly in the long run.

The trouble with the latter is that they are bean counters. They look at the bottom line, not with a long term vision, and wonder "How much of a bonus can I get myself if we do this, this, and this," even though the effects they have may be devastating to the long term future of a company. I've seen the bean counters talked into taking other people's money (investors) and literally blowing it on imbecilic products that no one in their right mind would financially back. Why? Because they don't know what they're doing, but they know that in one way or another, even if investors lose their shirts, they'll make a buck on it...maybe lots of them.

Wall Street investors have likely been telling the people at Dell not to develop for the future, but rather to react to the immediate need for them to make a profit. Ship employees jobs overseas and lay as many Americans off as possible - sure it's devastating to the work force, sure it kills the motivation of the Americans to work there, sure those with talent will see the writing on the wall and leave, but there's a buck, a fast buck to be made, and that's all that matters. So what if the products go down the tubes and the company ends up in the dumpster - this process can be repeated time and time and time again with other firms. The bean counters just keep finding other moving targets.

Scott McNealy, former owner of Sun Microsystems relented that he had ever used Wall Street to finance his company numerous times. Instead of allowing him to innovate, Wall Street demanded instant return in spite of the fact that it was killing the company. Innovation costs money, but if those controlling the purse strings are obsessed with their own immediate need to obtain more and more and more shiny objects at the expense of other peoples livelihoods and investors money, so be it.

I'm not a fan of Dell, but I can understand how they got into the predicament they're in. Unlike Sun Microsystems, at least they now stand a chance to be a real company that produces real and innovative products and they've partnered with a company that can likely help them innovate, rather than reacting to the demands of investment firms whose only intention is to rape the company for what they can get out of it.

[MonkeySee....]

Originally Posted by pancakedrawer

Hopefully this will allow them to become more innovative and increase competition.

Who Dell??

Chuckle chuckle chuckle

[gennydesuza]

hi

Dell is one of the leading company for creating a innovative and creative creations like in computer world and other technologies Dell is a vibrant, exciting company run by Michael Dell who maintains his focus on customers.Dell is really doing for its customers. For the past few years, this seems to be a real challenge for them.