Michael Dell To Buy Dell Inc.

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Michael Dell To Buy Dell Inc.

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 12, 2013 @04:15AM from the dell-by-any-other-name dept.

awarrenfells writes "After a shareholder vote, Michael Dell is expected to buy out and take Dell Inc. private. This move comes in the wake of plans to move Dell into position as an enterprise computing provider, but some analysts state this move may have come too late, much of the target market being taken by IBM and HP already." Nerval's Lobster provides some more details at Slash Cloud: "[T]he final buyout price was $13.75 a share, which includes a 13-cent-a-share “special dividend.” All told, that puts the deal’s price at $24.9 billion. In order to reach this point, Dell and Silver Lake had to fend off activist investor Carl Icahn and investment firm Southeastern Asset Management, which made their own combined play for a restructured capitalization. In a series of public letters, Icahn argued that Dell’s privatization proposal undervalued the company, and—at least until the beginning of September—made it very clear that he was willing to fight things out in court. By convincing the shareholders that his plan is the best route forward, Dell avoids what could have devolved into a very protracted and messy battle. Michael Dell wants to focus the majority of the company’s efforts on services, essentially remaking it into a tech firm more along the lines of IBM."

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Good by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 04:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

We need more CEOs with egos tied to their companies. At least they don't just loot them and run...
1. Re:Good by h4rr4r · 2013-09-12 04:55 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  He happens to buy? The company is named after him, he founded it!
2. Re:Good by realityimpaired · 2013-09-12 04:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Cute. The company he's buying happens to have the same name as he does. So It would be like someone name McDonald buying a burger company, or somebody named Ford buying an automobile manufacturer
  The reason the company he's buying happens to have the same name as he does is because he founded the company in the 1980's. It later went public, and this is not the first time he's tried to take it private again. Many, many times over the years, he's made large stock buys/sells in the company to try to force an adjustment to the share price and/or reassure investors.
  Obligatory disclaimer: I used to work for the company, and while I wouldn't say he's a friend, I've met him several times.
3. Re:Good by Baloroth · 2013-09-12 04:58 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  More specifically, it'd be like Henry Ford buying Ford Motor Company. Michael Dell founded Dell, the name is not a coincidence.
  
  --
  "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
4. Re:Good by prelelat · 2013-09-12 05:06 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  What are you even talking about. Micheal Dell started that company from the ground up building computers one at a time by himself. He put a lot of hard work and time into that company and he sees it's in trouble. So instead of cashing out and getting the fuck away like most people would he takes it appon himself to buy up the company, make it private and try and fix it. He's definitely tied to that company he's treating it like he would a child that has lost it's way. What you are suggesting is that he's just some random guy who happens to have the same name and it's not a big deal. It's a huge deal, you know he's not going to come in there and run it to maximize profits short term, that he's not going to sell off everything to show profits to investors. A move like this suggests that he wants to go in there an fix the company long term without worrying about investors breathing down his neck.
  Your trivializing this action in a day when it doesn't usually happen with large companies. Even apple was still publicly shared when Jobs took back his roll.
5. Re:Good by MouseR · 2013-09-12 05:36 · Score: 2
  
  Speaking of which, Steve Jobs must be laughing in his tomb. Dell should "re-embourse the shareholders and close the shop".
6. Re:Good by mlts · 2013-09-12 05:47 · Score: 1
  
  I much rather have people as stakeholders rather than shareholders in a corporation. Shareholders can just drop and run at any time, and really tend to not care about the long term future, assuming they have a sign of when to sell. Stakeholders are in it for the long haul.
  Sadly, due to the hedge fund BS and the shareholder lawsuits if a company decides to put off some quarterly profits into R&D, the long term road tends to be ignored. Hopefully this will change.
  I'm glad Dell is off the public exchange. They may not be as glamorous as Apple, but they are a major part of a lot of businesses, so if they are not subject to the constant lash of earnings, maybe they can make solid machines for business.
7. Re:Good by perpenso · 2013-09-12 05:58 · Score: 1
  
  Well played, congrats.
8. Re:Good by Kinwolf · 2013-09-12 06:14 · Score: 1
  
  After Apple showed the IPhone 5c this week, I'm pretty sure nothing could make him laugh in his tomb right now.
9. Re:Good by camperdave · 2013-09-12 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  Well played, congrats.
  Finally! Someone who gets it.
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
10. Re:Good by MachineShedFred · 2013-09-12 06:54 · Score: 1
  
  Because Apple has never sold things that use colored polycarbonate plastic before. Or differentiated a product line with cheaper alternatives while maintaining the same base functionality (Mac Mini, iPod Mini, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano).
  And none of those things ever occurred while Mr. Jobs was in the CEO's office.
  
  --
  Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
11. Re:Good by morgauxo · 2013-09-12 06:59 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  That would be completely different! Michael Dell is still alive. Imagine... an auto company ran by the un-dead!
12. Re:Good by Kinwolf · 2013-09-12 07:06 · Score: 1
  
  I could care less what Apple does or did, the comment was meant to be humorous since Steve Jobs once said there would never be a low end iPhone.
13. Re:Good by mjwalshe · 2013-09-12 07:37 · Score: 1
  
  The argument is is that exactly what Mr Dell is doing taking advantage of a depressed share price to buy the company on the cheap.
14. Re:Good by MrLint · 2013-09-12 07:48 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Flashback 1997 Micheal Dell says he would shit down apple and give the money back to the shareholders..
  http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html
  Well MIkey, perhaps you should do the same thing.
15. Re:Good by mattack2 · 2013-09-12 08:56 · Score: 1
  
  He's not shutting it down, but he *IS* buying out existing shareholders and taking it private...
16. Re:Good by gl4ss · 2013-09-12 09:03 · Score: 1
  
  I could care less what Apple does or did, the comment was meant to be humorous since Steve Jobs once said there would never be a low end iPhone.
  he said a lot of things.
  however a low end iphone is what would make sense and what developers would like and what could boost their market share. but ive couldn't deliver that, instead he delivered something that looks like it should be 300 bucks, but costs more than double of that(+bumper, which kind of makes it pointless to do any sort of praise about the "luxurious" feel of the polycarbonate).
  this is a pretty high end phone they got, it's price is up there with high end offerings of any bigger manufacturer(or any phone manufacturer excluding vertu), 5c costs basically the same as 1020 and galaxy s4 is a lot cheaper than 5c. basically the only thing a notch even more expensive than 5c is the iphone 5s.
  the C in it is not for Cheap, it's for COLOR. this is actually a bad thing since something new in the 300 bucks range would have been what people wanted them to publish - and even that is just mid range and not low end! low end of smartphones starts from around 50 bucks and goes to 150 bucks(out of contract). they cannot break to higher market penetration with the 5c.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
17. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 09:11 · Score: 1
  
  I remember when he told apple to give the money back to shareholders... looks whos doing that now!
18. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 09:14 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It would have the worst safety record, but the labor would be impossibly cheap. We need to make zombie farms to fight the Chinese economic machine!
  Where is my Umbrella?
19. Re:Good by mattack2 · 2013-09-12 10:20 · Score: 2
  
  Well, the undead couldn't do much worse with a U.S. (big 3) car company.
20. Re:Good by mattack2 · 2013-09-12 10:30 · Score: 1
  
  I could care less what Apple does or did
  So you *do* care.
  
  since Steve Jobs once said there would never be a low end iPhone.
  Apparently you disagree, but many people have said this *isn't* a low end iPhone, which is apparently part of the reason the stock went down yesterday.
21. Re:Good by Hamsterdan · 2013-09-12 12:49 · Score: 1
  
  Can I have some of what you're smoking? He *created* the company.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dell
  
  --
  I've got better things to do tonight than die.
22. Re:Good by Reziac · 2013-09-13 04:35 · Score: 1
  
  I think it'd be a good thing too. Not only as you say, his child having lost its way, but because it's one less target for stockholder speculation in an industry that doesn't need any more boom and bust.
  
  --
  ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
23. Re:Good by nobaloney · 2013-09-13 13:59 · Score: 1
  
  Obligatory disclaimer: I used to work for the company, and while I wouldn't say he's a friend, I've met him several times.
  Then you know he's a driven man. Better for the stockholders that he attempt a buyout at any price than that he sell all his shares cheap, thus lowering the company's street value, and then use his money (he must have a lot of it, to be able to make the offer) to build a new tech startup using his name (there are at least some states and countries where he could do that with at least one non-confusing descriptive word added; Belize, nemesis of John McAfee, comes to mind as a possible location). What he's doing is good for him (or he wouldn't be doing it), probably at least partially driven by ego, and as good for the stockholders as they're going to get.
24. Re:Good by samwichse · 2013-09-14 11:57 · Score: 1
  
  ???
  Ford is doing the best of the big 3, are they not? The new Fiesta, Focus, and especially the Fusion are getting great reviews.
  So what's the problem?
25. Re:Good by mattack2 · 2013-09-14 13:49 · Score: 1
  
  Well, I was mostly joking, but "having" to bail out one of them, and iirc almost bailing out another, isn't very good.
  (I put having in quotes since I think they should have gone under.)
  Though I may look at the Spark and Ford Focus EV when I look at cars.
26. Re:Good by samwichse · 2013-09-15 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  I've heard the Spark EV is the best of the bunch (smaller, affordable electrics). Car and Driver really seems to love it:
  http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-chevrolet-spark-ev-first-drive-review
27. Re:Good by prelelat · 2013-09-18 06:33 · Score: 1
  
  Apple at the time was in a very hard place probably worse than Dell currently is. Jobs did an amazing job in fixing that company back up. Maybe it inspired Mr. Dell and Steve would be quite content with someone trying to replicate what he managed to do. Dell has a long way to go and I'm not sure it will be done, but at the end of the day Micheal Dell did half of what he said. Gave investors back a large chunk of change and is changing business structure.
Dude! by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · 2013-09-12 04:23 · Score: 5, Funny

He's getting Dell.

--

Technoli
1. Re:Dude! by NatasRevol · 2013-09-12 05:37 · Score: 2
  
  No, it means he's stoned.
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
2. Re:Dude! by Dogtanian · 2013-09-12 06:22 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Dude! He's getting Dell.
  I guess the answer to "I Cahn Has Dell?" was no, then.
  
  --
  "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
M.Dell by djupedal · 2013-09-12 04:24 · Score: 4, Interesting

"Michael Dell wants to focus the majority of the company’s efforts on services, essentially remaking it into a tech firm more along the lines of IBM."

Problem is, IBM committed to that approach years ago, in a different world. I'm not sure that would work today, given how long traction would take and how things will continue to evolve in the mean time. You can't commoditize this kind of thing, after all.
1. Re:M.Dell by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 04:34 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  > You can't commoditize this kind of thing, after all.
  Commoditize is the right word. When people hire professionals to provide services, they want to hire an expert. They want someone they can trust. Dell has always been about selling the lowest quality crap they can get away with and then not honoring their warranties.
  Just look at their recent keyboard fiasco. The KB212 drops keypresses, and Dell has decided that instead of honoring their warranty and replacing the keyboards that they instead would strike-out and insult the people that call them for replacements. When my boss called Dell about the eight we had that were dropping keypresses, they said that our employees that had trouble were incompetent and did not know how to use a keyboard. He is a Dell fanboy so he fired a couple people. He actually believes that the people that complained didn't know how to use a keyboard. That sort of dishonest crap over a $12 keyboard proves that Dell has no intention of ever becoming a trustworthy company.
2. Re:M.Dell by squiggleslash · 2013-09-12 04:39 · Score: 2
  
  "Services" encompasses rather a lot of possible avenues. Google and IBM aren't (for the most part) competitors, but their products both constitute "services".
  That said, I'm not sure I understand where Dell is heading with this one. IBM had a significant business that wasn't "Putting new PCs in boxes and selling them" when it transitioned away from PCs. Dell... every corporation I've worked for has bought Dell computers, specifically, and outside of warranty and equipment rental services, I'm not sure what they sell on the service side. Put another way - they're moving from the business they're known for and have a high mindshare in to something that they need to build from scratch.
  In that context, it might be easier for Michael Dell to invest the money in a new start-up, rather than an existing PC manufacturer.
  But I'm an idiot programmer who posts to Slashdot and has no money and no insight into Dell's thinking. So I'm guessing (actually, I pretty much know) I'm wrong, I'm just curious to know what the truth is.
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
3. Re:M.Dell by BoRegardless · 2013-09-12 04:43 · Score: 1
  
  The question is if Dell can challenge IBM, SAP, HP, et al at "services" for IT systems?
  Then the question is can Michael Dell get the executives with the skills and vision to make it happen in an arena that is cutthroat.
4. Re:M.Dell by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 04:45 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Firing people over broken keyboards? Wow, you should try to get out ASAP!
5. Re:M.Dell by sribe · 2013-09-12 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  Commoditize is the right word. When people hire professionals to provide services, they want to hire an expert. They want someone they can trust. Dell has always been about selling the lowest quality crap they can get away with and then not honoring their warranties.
  For consumers, small businesses, even medium businesses, yes, absolutely. I have my own share of horror stories, with Dell support outright lying to my face about warranties.
  But if you're a big enough business to deal with their enterprise support, it's a whole other world. Call up support about a broken part, no questions asked, the replacement is in your hands 2 hours later!
6. Re:M.Dell by phantomfive · 2013-09-12 04:54 · Score: 1
  
  But I'm an idiot programmer who posts to Slashdot and has no money and no insight into Dell's thinking.
  Dell has a large chunk of cash in the bank. The purchasers now get that cash instead of the stockholders, so that's why it is worth taking private. That is also why Carl Icahn thought it was worth fighting for.
  
  I have no clue if they're going to do anything really different with the business, though. Maybe just grow smaller and smaller over time.....
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
7. Re:M.Dell by h4rr4r · 2013-09-12 04:57 · Score: 1
  
  Why are the devs not bringing better one thens?
  You think my Model M is company owned? You think all those folks with split keyboards had the company buy them?
8. Re:M.Dell by SQLGuru · 2013-09-12 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  Dell's commodity services are generally centered around selling hardware: hardware roll-out (desktop/laptops to all seats), server install / config / upgrade, Exchange migrations, etc. Basically tasks that are more tightly controlled in terms of scope and complexity. They also purchased what was Perot Systems for less commodity type services.
9. Re:M.Dell by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-12 05:11 · Score: 1
  
  I'm gonna make the presumption here that you don't have Gold support from Dell. Their m.o. is to treat you like shit until you buy the gold contract, and then treat you like, um, gold. That's where the money is - the boxes are loss-leaders, or at least minimal-margin devices that probably just break even.
  If you boss is a fanboi, tell him to buy the gold support contract - it will make your life easier, and if you're stuck in a Dell shop, you likely don't need more aggravation anyway. Heck, outsource all of the IT to this new Dell services arm if you're the last guy left.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
10. Re:M.Dell by steelfood · 2013-09-12 05:25 · Score: 1
  
  You can argue that IBM had always sold services to the enterprise. Mainframes built and deployed in the 60's are still running today, and IBM continues to support them like they did over 50 years ago.
  The restructuring they did in the 90's was merely changing from a hardware-centric service model to a software+hardware model. That, and they cut their consumer devices division that was turning into a cancerous tumor.
  Dell once had incredible enterprise support. For a while, they were know as the company to buy enterprise servers and workstations from. Then, they tried to branch into the consumer market and failed miserably. The razor-thin margins not only were unsustainable, but it also cost them both a chunk of the support infrastructure they had built for the enterprise, as well as their good name. That's where they went wrong, and where IBM did right twenty years earlier.
  If this is the direction Michael Dell wants to take his company, then there's a chance of success. If he wants to compete with IBM in hardware+software services, then he's got no chance.
  
  --
  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
11. Re:M.Dell by NatasRevol · 2013-09-12 05:38 · Score: 1
  
  As always, you get what you pay for.
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
12. Re:M.Dell by NatasRevol · 2013-09-12 05:40 · Score: 1
  
  No, I don't see companies paying money for services from a company like Dell.
  Yet your boss thinks it's fine.
  Guess who's more likely to be in contract negotiations?
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
13. Re:M.Dell by MickyTheIdiot · 2013-09-12 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  Get a new job. You're working for an idiot.
14. Re:M.Dell by Archangel+Michael · 2013-09-12 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  This is my exact experience.
  Consumer side is crap service, lowest cost commodity components. Dell Enterprise grade is really worthy of that name. What gets me, is that people want Enterprise Support at Consumer Pricing, and there is no such thing. I Laugh at the people who say "I can build a NAS for so much less" (so can I, but my job isn't worth saving a few bucks over) and then complain about how it failed spectacularly. The same people think that RAID is backups and backups are RAID. I don't even bother to argue with them any longer because their ignorance is greater than my ability to cope with it.
  If you want enterprise service, pay for enterprise grade equipment. There is a reason it is more expensive. If it isn't worth it to you, keep buying the cheap products. But at least understand the difference.
  
  --
  Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
15. Re:M.Dell by h4rr4r · 2013-09-12 06:18 · Score: 1
  
  I am the one who makes that decision.
  I normally approve keyboards though.
16. Re:M.Dell by h4rr4r · 2013-09-12 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  1. I am the one who makes that decision
  2. I normally approve keyboards, ps2 for for sure USB as long as they are unaltered.
  3. Devs can do as they like since most have they own laptops that the company just reimburses for.
17. Re:M.Dell by mlts · 2013-09-12 06:28 · Score: 1
  
  Nail, head hit. Consumer-level and business grade products by any PC maker are completely different animals when it comes to service, parts, support, and repairs.
  As a consumer or someone running a SOHO, the only PC vendor that has decent consumer level support is Apple. The ironic part is when one buys a business level machine (Latitude, Optiplex, Precision), the price difference between that and an Apple product of similar features [1] is fairly narrow.
  [1]: Harder to make like comparisons these days, now that the Mac Pro got changed from a workstation into a toy for Batman's desk.
18. Re:M.Dell by mlts · 2013-09-12 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  If I were to guess how they will go, it probably will be focusing on enterprise stuff, like 40 to 100gigabit ethernet for storage fabrics, Hyper-V clusters using Windows Server 2012's deduplication and autotiering [1].
  Done right, they will have a decent SDDS stack that can go toe-to-toe with EMC and VMWare, except with an advantage in price.
  Dell also has some interesting rebranded stuff. A smaller installation can use a RDX hard drive cartridge silo instead of tapes for offline saving of data.
  It will be interesting to see what Dell does for the enterprise now that they will be free from the constant threat of shareholder lawsuits if they don't get the numbers each quarter.
  [1]: It isn't as elegant as EMC's, but it is smart enough to move heavily used data to SSDs once set up.
19. Re:M.Dell by dyingtolive · 2013-09-12 07:42 · Score: 1
  
  I've never heard of this, and I have about 50 people who use 212's daily who would come to me to see if I had a spare..
  
  I'm not saying it doesn't happen. It just must be very hit and miss.
  
  --
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20. Re:M.Dell by Megane · 2013-09-12 08:07 · Score: 1
  
  When my boss called Dell about the eight we had that were dropping keypresses, they said that our employees that had trouble were incompetent and did not know how to use a keyboard. He is a Dell fanboy so he fired a couple people.
  Does your boss's name happen to be JIM?
  
  --
  #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
21. Re:M.Dell by unixisc · 2013-09-12 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  I think by 'services', they mean outsourcing services. Not necessarily offshoring services (although they have that too) but essentially, the IT and Business Process outsourcing services. Essentially, the ex-Perot Systems team (currently populated by ex-Wipro personnel) and the people who make Dell essentially a competitor to IBM & HP, not in terms of computer servers or hardware, but rather as a competitor to IBM, HP, Accenture, Cognizant, Capgemini, et al
22. Re:M.Dell by EETech1 · 2013-09-13 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  Best.
  Comment.
  Ever...
  (or cmonomment)
  JIM THE BOSS â a day ago
  DEOS ANNYONNE KNOOW WYE I CANNT LIKKE MY OWN CMONOMMENT
I'd shut it down... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 04:24 · Score: 4, Funny

I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders
1. Re:I'd shut it down... by Attila+Dimedici · 2013-09-12 04:27 · Score: 2
  
  Well, he's not shutting it down, but what do you think it means when they say he is going to "buy Dell"? It means that he is going to give money to the other shareholders in exchange for their share in Dell.
  
  --
  The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
2. Re:I'd shut it down... by MightyYar · 2013-09-12 04:32 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, there is some delicious irony there.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
3. Re:I'd shut it down... by Anonymous+Psychopath · 2013-09-12 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders
  Yeah! Those 109,000 employees can just go fuck themselves.
  
  --
  Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
4. Re:I'd shut it down... by WheezyJoe · 2013-09-12 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders
  Why? Are you a shareholder? Will you be after the buyout? Do you have any self-serving reason to shill for shareholders?
  If not, you're trolling. Time wasted. Get a life.
  
  --
  Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
5. Re:I'd shut it down... by MightyYar · 2013-09-12 05:51 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Save your scorn for Michael Dell - it's a direct quote.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Any Dell share owners out there? by ThorGod · 2013-09-12 04:24 · Score: 1

If you own(ed) part of Dell in the past, how's this impact you?

--
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
1. Re:Any Dell share owners out there? by ISoldat53 · 2013-09-12 04:55 · Score: 1
  
  Except for a small sentimental holding, I'm glad I sold out when I did.
Dell servers by ILongForDarkness · 2013-09-12 04:26 · Score: 1

Didn't have any problem when I used them ~5 years ago. Not sure how they are now but if you are just running Linux/windows I found them fine and their support was good (in europe at the time anyways). We still had Sun boxes kicking around for special needs but otherwise we were commodity. With a SAN setup and most if not all data living on disk arrays the servers take a back seat somewhat. You might die but you won't lose data which was the biggest thing in internal IT services were I worked and likely everywhere. If corporate email has to do go down for a day that is one thing if it comes back up but loses your 20k message archive you'll get lined up and shot. Having a warm standby for almost everything is good enough for a lot of things. There are exceptions of course, banking systems, webcentric businesses etc but the vast majority of companies are Twitter with nothing to sell but bytes on a wire.
1. Re:Dell servers by MightyYar · 2013-09-12 04:38 · Score: 2
  
  Not sure how they are now but if you are just running Linux/windows I found them fine and their support was good (in europe at the time anyways).
  
  That's the problem. They are a "fine" player in a commodity market with declining volumes. They made a couple of half-hearted attempts at other markets: personal organizers, re-badged iPods, phones, reselling TVs, etc. But their margins will always reflect their business model, and they have chosen a very low-margin model. In other words, they kind of won the race to the bottom. I'll miss them if they exit the PC market - I think competition is a great thing, even if I was unwilling to hold their shares any longer.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
2. Re:Dell servers by MachineShedFred · 2013-09-12 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  Lately they've been on a buying spree that only rivals Cisco. They bought Wyse in order to play in the thin client space for enterprise. They bought Quest Software in order to get identity management and software two-factor security solutions. They bought Credant Technologies for a software disk encryption suite that supports key escrow and central policy management. Etc.
  They are trying to purchase their way further into the enterprise market.
  
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  Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
It's hard to sell services... by CohibaVancouver · 2013-09-12 04:28 · Score: 2

I work for a company that makes a Software-as-a-Service product. Our main sales channel is via OEMs like Dell. With hardware margins in the toilet the OEMs are all trying to realign themselves as 'service vendors' but they're not having much luck. It's my experience that it's very difficult to realign a sales team used to asking "Would you like a case and an SSD drive upgrade?" to one that sells high-margin services. The type of salesperson you need is much more expensive & sophisticated. You need to invest millions in training, marketing and support. Can be done of course (witness IBM) but it's a long, expensive process.
1. Re:It's hard to sell services... by alen · 2013-09-12 04:35 · Score: 1
  
  IT people would be dumb to ask for these since most of them are simple things like installing and migrating a MS Exchange environment to new hardware and software. or installing Windows with a new PC purchase. the prices are very high for jobs that your IT department is already getting paid to do
  as an IT drone why would i send a PO to my management for approval with a line item to install software that i'm already getting paid to support?
2. Re:It's hard to sell services... by CohibaVancouver · 2013-09-12 04:44 · Score: 1
  
  It's not migrating Exchange - Think MUCH bigger. It's things like this:
  
  http://www-35.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/consulting/
3. Re:It's hard to sell services... by CohibaVancouver · 2013-09-12 04:46 · Score: 1
  
  oops, somehow the link got busted up. Try this:
  
  http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/consulting/
4. Re:It's hard to sell services... by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-12 05:06 · Score: 1
  
  There might be some people who love their Dell sales rep, but most see them as a commodity. Shops who order Wintel from Dell and have the Gold contract are about easy and mainstream, not about shopping for the best pricing on the best solutions, and those represent a lot of the well-monied corporate interests in the US.
  Dell has as much a chance at this as anybody else. When it comes down to it, if both Dell and HP are offering the same service and the client is already a Dell customer, it's *very* unlikely that they're going to see any product differentiation between the two and even more unlikely that they're going to expend the energy to switch vendors.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by CohibaVancouver · 2013-09-12 04:33 · Score: 2

Now YOU control the destiny of DELL, as it should be (like Microsoft &/or Ford Motor Inc. - they're examples of companies where the ownership NEVER LOST CONTROL, because THEIR NAMES WAS ON IT
Hey Anonymous Coward, what the hell are you talking about? Microsoft and Ford are publicly-traded companies. Ford's CEO is Alan Mulally - Best known for creating the 777 for Boeing.
How does going private help Dell the company? by JoeyRox · 2013-09-12 04:36 · Score: 1

The company has been stuck in idle for years and is now in reverse due to macro trend from desktops/laptops to tablets. The oft-repeated claims from private equity guys is that a company has a better chance to succeed if it doesn't have to deal with the demands of being a public company. Demands like growth, profitability, aka success. I don't get it. Maybe they can enact longer-term business plans that would torpedo the stock price if it were a public company...but isn't the idea of every public company to maximize the long term value of shareholders?
1. Re:How does going private help Dell the company? by MickyTheIdiot · 2013-09-12 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  Demands like growth, profitability, aka success.
  What a limited view of what makes a business successful.
  Yeah, I know this is the corporate view. But just because it's the corporate view doesn't make it right. And unlimited growth is also called cancer.
2. Re:How does going private help Dell the company? by alen · 2013-09-12 04:42 · Score: 1
  
  pension funds and other large investors who own most of the stock hate risk. and a down and out company like dell will never be able to implement a risky plan without a shareholder revolt. CALPERS and the NY State pension plans will kill the idea.
  going private means someone else is taking on the risk. usually rich people who invest in these things knowing the risks involved
3. Re:How does going private help Dell the company? by JoeyRox · 2013-09-12 04:44 · Score: 1
  
  Unless your investing in a charity or for charitable/social change reasons it's the only view that makes objective sense. A business requires a return on investment otherwise it has no reason to exist in the eyes of investors/shareholders.
4. Re:How does going private help Dell the company? by rudy_wayne · 2013-09-12 04:47 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe they can enact longer-term business plans that would torpedo the stock price if it were a public company...but isn't the idea of every public company to maximize the long term value of shareholders?
  No. The goal of a public company is to maximize SHORT TERM profits. If you lose money or only generate small profits because you are working on a long term plan that will eventually have a big pay off, you will most likely get fired.
5. Re:How does going private help Dell the company? by harperska · 2013-09-12 08:33 · Score: 1
  
  This is in fact what happened to JC Penny. They were lagging behind Kohl's et. al. in the discount retail market, so they brought in a new CEO who implemented a new business model based on no-bs pricing. The model was a great way of differentiating themselves, and probably would have paid off if given enough time for consumers to get used to it. But when consumers didn't jump on the model instantly and they had a couple of bad quarters, the CEO was fired before the model was given enough time to see if it could be successful in the long term.
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by Chris+Mattern · 2013-09-12 04:38 · Score: 5, Funny

(like Microsoft &/or Ford Motor Inc. - they're examples of companies where the ownership NEVER LOST CONTROL, because THEIR NAMES WAS ON IT
Ah yes, who will ever forget the great tycoon Bob Microsoft.
Re:so Michael... by alen · 2013-09-12 04:40 · Score: 1

apple and google own the desktop ^nix market
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC by perpenso · 2013-09-12 04:42 · Score: 4, Insightful

We need more CEOs with egos tied to their companies. At least they don't just loot them and run...
I get the sentiment and there is a degree of truth there but here is a counterexample: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC

Always practice due diligence. Even if someone's name is on the sign, even if the founders are still running the place.
1. Re:Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC by chuckugly · 2013-09-12 05:24 · Score: 2
  
  McAfee, although he did leave the company for almost 20 years BEFORE becoming infamous.
2. Re:Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC by FilmedInNoir · 2013-09-12 06:06 · Score: 2
  
  "He's so famous, that he's *IN* famous."
  
  --
  Sig. Sig. Sputnik
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by Chris+Mattern · 2013-09-12 04:44 · Score: 1

Actually, he has a point about Ford. William Clay Ford Jr. is the Chairman of the Board, and there are two more Fords on the board. What's more, although the Ford family only owns a small fraction of the outstanding stock, they own all of the Class B stock, which controls 40% of the stockholder votes, giving them effective control.
Not that. by tuppe666 · 2013-09-12 04:44 · Score: 1

No the Delicious Irony is Apple is giving money back to shareholders...to protect its share price. When it should be doing something exciting with that money.
1. Re:Not that. by MightyYar · 2013-09-12 05:25 · Score: 1
  
  I'd rather they give it to me than sit on it or spend it recklessly. You can only ramp up your organization so fast, and efficiencies are lower beyond a certain organization size (Microsoft -ahem-).
  I bought Apple and Dell after the tech crash. Guess which stock I'm happier with? :)
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
2. Re:Not that. by NatasRevol · 2013-09-12 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  It would *actually* be ironic if Apple was not still growing their cash position, even when giving back a dividend.
  But they're doing both.
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
3. Re:Not that. by MachineShedFred · 2013-09-12 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  So for years, everyone bitches that Apple doesn't give dividends and doesn't do stock buybacks because they are putting the money back into the business.
  Then Apple declares a dividend and a stock buyback initiative, and now people bitch that they should be putting that money back into the business.
  It seems to me that people just want to bitch.
  
  --
  Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
The Once Mighty by jamesl · 2013-09-12 04:46 · Score: 1

... but some analysts state this move may have come too late, much of the target market being taken by IBM and HP already.
And before Google, much of the target market had been taken by Alta Vista. And the NFL had a lock on pro football. And Sony had a lock on portable entertainment devices. And Microsoft on operating systems. HP on printers. Ford/GM/Chrysler.
1. Re:The Once Mighty by LMariachi · 2013-09-12 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  The NFL doesn’t still have a lock on pro football? Is the XFL coming back?
2. Re:The Once Mighty by jamesl · 2013-09-12 06:10 · Score: 1
  
  The American Football League (AFL) was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when it merged with the National Football League (NFL).
  The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence.
  While many AFL players and observers believed their league was the equal of the NFL, their first two Super Bowl performances did nothing to prove it. However, on November 17, 1968, when NBC cut away from a game between the Jets and Raiders to air the children's movie Heidi, the ensuing uproar helped disprove the notion that fans still considered the AFL an inferior product. The perception of AFL inferiority forever changed on January 12, 1969, when the AFL Champion New York Jets shocked the heavily favored NFL Champion Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The Colts, who entered the contest favored by as many as 18 points, had completed the 1968 NFL season with a 13â"1 record, and won the NFL title with a convincing 34-0 win over the Cleveland Browns.
  The Jets won, 16-7, in what is considered one of the greatest upsets in American sports history.
  With the win, the AFL finally achieved parity with the NFL and legitimized the merger of the two leagues.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Football_League
3. Re:The Once Mighty by LMariachi · 2013-09-12 15:25 · Score: 1
  
  OIC. I was confused because the merged league is still called the NFL.
Dell is toast by kilodelta · 2013-09-12 04:51 · Score: 1

I know - a company I worked for got bought by Dell a couple years ago. We watched as benefits got wiped, and the switch to a new platform meant WORSE service for our clients. A bunch of us jumped ship.
1. Re:Dell is toast by kannibal_klown · 2013-09-12 05:10 · Score: 1
  
  I know - a company I worked for got bought by Dell a couple years ago. We watched as benefits got wiped, and the switch to a new platform meant WORSE service for our clients. A bunch of us jumped ship.
  Your statement is a little ambiguous
  I imagine you're saying "Michael Dell bought our company" and Dell Inc. is now screwed.
  But it also reads like "Dell Inc. bought our company" in which case you're saying that Michael Dell has his work cut out for him (aka, Michael Dell is going to be busy trying to right the ship)
2. Re:Dell is toast by Deflagro · 2013-09-12 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  As a previous employee for over a decade, I was on the team that started their foray into "services" and you may have a point. MD will always want to develop his own software and use that in lieu of acquisitions of companies that actually know how to develop sw.
  We tried using a Dell developed sw on a huge services client and it failed horribly nearly costing Dell the whole account. Acquiring Perot brings that knowledge to the table but the philosophies are so different between the two that it will take some time to figure out a middle-ground. The "it's not ready until it's 100%" approach of Perot vs the "80% is good enough, we need this now!" approach of Dell. Dell has a speed and it's always at the redline. (yay, car analogy!)
  They will keep the enterprise business running strong as they can attach services at a premium. Consumer and SMB might be sold to whoever wants that nightmare and there may be solutions to provide virtual helpdesks but I doubt there will be any more laptops or PCs coming out.
  
  --
  Der Tod ist der einzige Weg hier raus!
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by intothemiddle8046 · 2013-09-12 05:02 · Score: 1

I properly LOL'd at that.
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by dkleinsc · 2013-09-12 05:10 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, actually the names got accidentally reversed by a city clerk: The guy's real name was Microsoft Bob.

--
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Conusmer Market by tuppe666 · 2013-09-12 05:10 · Score: 1

Dell is positioning itself as a enterprise computing provider just when the consumer market is taking off. Where are its Meego Phones; Chromebooks and *Next Generation PC*...the phone space is not the only place that can be innovative. Dell strength was logistics how about they get back to that only supplying interesting products.
1. Re:Conusmer Market by LMariachi · 2013-09-12 05:51 · Score: 1
  
  Dell going into the interesting products business is a much bigger leap than going into the services business.
2. Re:Conusmer Market by ISoldat53 · 2013-09-12 06:31 · Score: 1
  
  Mike is not into "interesting." He is the most conservative person in the industry. Dell hasn't come up with an interesting product in a decade.
3. Re:Conusmer Market by DigiShaman · 2013-09-12 16:10 · Score: 1
  
  Dell is right to be going after the enterprise market. They've purchased EqualLogic, Wyse, and SonicWALL. All three companies offer excellent enterprise products. It's really hard to break into the enterprise segment, it's even harder to deliver with a wide range of products and solutions all under one roof. Meanwhile, consumer products are commodities built by the lowest bidder. You buy cheap consumer shit, you get cheap consumer shit.
  
  --
  Life is not for the lazy.
lots of embedded systems are running off of X86 pc by Joe_Dragon · 2013-09-12 05:18 · Score: 1

lots of embedded systems are running off of X86 and X86-64 pc hardware some are just an PC box with usb based IO boards / dongles.
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by zztong · 2013-09-12 05:37 · Score: 1

I recall there once was Mike Rowe, who had "Mike Rowe Soft." Somebody else apparently remembers this and documented it...
http://txfx.net/2004/01/22/mike-rowe-soft/
Re:Majority voting stock control's what... apk by Your.Master · 2013-09-12 05:41 · Score: 1

Bill Gates owns less than 10% of voting stock.
Furthermore, preferred shares are *non* voting stock (with rare exceptions). The "bullshit common-stock" is the type that gets you a vote.
Not shutting down, just leaving Wall Street ... by perpenso · 2013-09-12 05:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

Speaking of which, Steve Jobs must be laughing in his tomb. Dell should "re-embourse the shareholders and close the shop".
While he is returning money to shareholders he is not shutting down Dell. Its going private, its not going to be beholden to the quarterly desires of Wall Street. Dell is probably better of this way.
1. Re:Not shutting down, just leaving Wall Street ... by MouseR · 2013-09-12 06:07 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe you're too young to remember but... to put you back in context: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html
  In essence, I made a funny.
2. Re:Not shutting down, just leaving Wall Street ... by perpenso · 2013-09-12 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe you're too young to remember but... to put you back in context: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html In essence, I made a funny.
  No, I got the attempt at humor. Its just that Steve laughing ruined it. If anything he'd be jealous. I think Steve wished he could have ditched Wall Street as Dell is doing.
3. Re:Not shutting down, just leaving Wall Street ... by unixisc · 2013-09-12 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  Speaking of which, Steve Jobs must be laughing in his tomb. Dell should "re-embourse the shareholders and close the shop".
  While he is returning money to shareholders he is not shutting down Dell. Its going private, its not going to be beholden to the quarterly desires of Wall Street. Dell is probably better of this way.
  I quite agree w/ this. At least, this way, Dell doesn't have to keep increasing the top line and making the bottom line red ink, just to please Wall Street. Also, Dell can determine whether they want to simply keep rebranding laptops from Compal & Arima, or whether they want to reduce their presence in a market where margins are razor thin.
  The plan, which essentially makes Dell Perot systems, but under Dell's name, not Perot's - is a good one. Dell is still well regarded in the IT outsourcing biz - right there with IBM, HP and the others, and might as well focus on the things where it's still respected. It would do well to slowly let go of any dependence it has on Microsoft or Intel, and make itself big in services.
4. Re:Not shutting down, just leaving Wall Street ... by harperska · 2013-09-12 08:14 · Score: 2
  
  Yep. More tech companies should strive to go private. To be successful in the tech sector, you really need a long term roadmap, and R&D that may not pay off for years. But Wall Street only wants businesses to make decisions that have an immediate positive effect on the bottom line, and punishes companies that make decisions that hurt now but might pay off big later. That perspective might make sense for old industry blue chip stock companies that have done the exact same thing for the last 50+ years, but it is completely at odds with implementing a vision in a technology company.
5. Re:Not shutting down, just leaving Wall Street ... by yuhong · 2013-09-12 16:49 · Score: 1
  
  I think Dell had to rely on illegal payments from Intel to meet the mentioned EPS expectations of Wall Street:
  http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-131.htm
Out of innovation by tuppe666 · 2013-09-12 06:12 · Score: 1

It would *actually* be ironic if Apple was not still growing their cash position, even when giving back a dividend.
But they're doing both.
...But in context of this article they didn't buy Dell...or Netflix...or Blah blah blah, While their profits shrink, Market Share (and sales in case of its iPad/Mac) shrink, Gross Margin compressed. There response has been to over promise and under deliver. The result the iPhone 5C and 5S I think they speak for themselves.
1. Re:Out of innovation by NatasRevol · 2013-09-12 06:14 · Score: 1
  
  If you think buying Dell or Netflix is, to use your words, 'exciting', then you're more delusional than when you just cheer on Google.
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
2. Re:Out of innovation by unixisc · 2013-09-12 09:14 · Score: 1
  
  When they price their products a certain level, they are automatically clamping their available market, and their profits are going to be a a fraction of that. The decision for them to make is whether they want their profits to be based on a higher margin on a lower marketshare, or a lower margin on a higher marketshare. The PCs and Androids have already demonstrated the economics of the latter model, while Apple has done really well with the former. They'd have to be really inane to listen to people here, who have no record of achieving what they have.
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by Anamelech · 2013-09-12 06:59 · Score: 1

Can't it be both? At the time when the 777 was being created, Mulally was the director of engineering for the project.
Some corporate executives worked to get where they are today.
Growth Stock vs Value Stock by tuppe666 · 2013-09-12 07:43 · Score: 1

So for years, everyone bitches that Apple doesn't give dividends and doesn't do stock buybacks...
...and Steve Jobs told them to Jump, and did so because Apple was a growth stock not a value stock, buybacks/dividends are what you do with a value stock.
Maker of the ugly PC. by ralphaostrander · 2013-09-12 08:38 · Score: 1

Well at least you canget to the ram. I bought a Ausu 501-a notebook and it had 4 gig of ram it was mid priced so I expected that. What I did not expect was that to upgrade it you would have to completely tear apart the whole machine. Al I wanted was to run a VM. I through it away and bought a new one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06-HlMu7DCY
1. Re:Maker of the ugly PC. by ralphaostrander · 2013-09-12 08:52 · Score: 1
  
  Oh and the x502a is even worse it is soldered to the board.
2. Re:Maker of the ugly PC. by petermgreen · 2013-09-12 09:59 · Score: 1
  
  Am I the only one who looks up the service manual for a laptop before buying it?
  
  --
  note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Re:Good for you Mr. Dell... apk by unixisc · 2013-09-12 09:17 · Score: 1

Wasn't their baby Kathy?
A bit more context by rsborg · 2013-09-12 11:59 · Score: 2

I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders
Yeah! Those 109,000 employees can just go fuck themselves.
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html

And at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo97 here today, the CEO of competitor Dell Computer added his voice to the chorus when asked what could be done to fix the Mac maker. His solution was a drastic one.
"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.
I'm sure Michael Dell really really cared about those thousands of Apple employees too. No one is shutting down, but as a high-profile public figure, he ought to have thought twice before he said shit that was destined come back to bite him.

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Re:Majority voting stock control's what... apk by CohibaVancouver · 2013-09-12 14:14 · Score: 1

This Anonymous Coward gets quite uppity, doesn't he?
So who will buy Apple? by Shag · 2013-09-12 17:00 · Score: 1

Fiona Apple doesn't have that kind of money, does she?

--
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Safety First! by DarthVain · 2013-09-13 03:05 · Score: 1

Crash testing might be either really good, or very bad, depending on perspective.
Dell has improved by omfglearntoplay · 2013-09-13 06:56 · Score: 1

Their rack servers, desktops, and even laptops seem a lot better than they were 5 years ago. We're back on Dell at my company, for the most part.