Michael Dell buys Dell Inc for $27 billion

Michael Dell has succeeded in buying back the company he founded in 1984, with Dell shareholders approving his joint bid with private equity firm Silver Lake to buy out the company and take it private, in a US$24.9 billion (approx AU$27 billion) transaction.

A Dell press release dated 12 September said that “based on a preliminary vote tally”, the company’s shareholders approved the proposed joint purchase by Michael Dell and Silver Lake.

Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell, said the transaction is expected to close before the end of the third quarter of Dell’s FY2014. He will own 75% of the company once the merger is cleared, according to the company’s CFO.

In an open letter to Dell customers posted on Dell.com, Michael Dell said: “I couldn’t be more excited about our future together.

“We are going back to our roots, to the entrepreneurial spirit that made Dell one of the fastest growing, most successful companies in history.”

In the letter he highlighted “the forces of cloud, big data, mobile and security”, and said that the company will now “make these innovations simpler, more affordable and more accessible”.

He argued that as a private company, Dell “can move even faster toward our goal of becoming the industry’s leading provider of scalable, end-to-end solutions that deliver extraordinary value for you and your organisations”.

Michael Dell faced significant opposition in his bid to buy the company, with some investors saying his offered sum was too small and some launching their own rival bids for the company.

In a conference call following the shareholder vote, Michael Dell said the company plans to invest in the PC and tablet markets, in expanding sales coverage and in growing its distribution network.

He said he intends for the company to expand into areas including enterprise, cloud computing and security services.

When asked if layoffs would follow, the company’s CFO Brian Gladden said there would be a company “realignment”.

Pictured: Dell HQ, Round Rock, Texas. Photo courtesy of Dell Inc.