Microsoft May Invest $1B-$3B In Dell Buyout 151
alexander_686 writes "We heard that Dell is in buyout talks with private equity firms. Now, the word is that Microsoft may invest one to three billion dollars in that buyout. For that amount of money, Microsoft isn't going for majority ownership, but it would be a significant stake. Dell is worth around $22-25 billion. Speculation is that investors would put up $5-7 billion in equity, borrowing the rest. As a point of reference, Michael Dell's stock is worth $3.6 billion."
Well... (Score:2)
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Most of the time 10% gives you access to the board - including naming people on the board.
I don't think it would be 16%/ That would be 1 1b investment in 7b equity - that would be lower range of MSFT investment and higher range of Dell's value. 25% would be more likely - 2b investment / 7b in equity gives me 28%.
proof (Score:5, Funny)
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eating his words (Score:5, Funny)
Is Michael Dell shutting down the company and giving the money back to the shareholders??? :)
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In the event this sell goes though, that would be more or less what he is doing.
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Make me curious of what he has said. I can imagine about what it could be but I don't know.
Dude you are being owned by the man (Score:1)
Dude you are being owned by the man
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Yes, Dell should prepare to be Nokia-ized.
Microsoft won't "own" them so Microsoft won't give a shit when they go bankrupt.
FYI: that wooshing sound you hear... (Score:5, Funny)
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Because building a laptop from component parts is a pain in the ass?
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Haven't you heard of ODMs? Same hardware made by the same people that build the Dells, HPs, etc.. Even if you don't want to put it together yourself, you can still get it without an OS, no matter what Dell decides to do (and it's likely to be less expensive, too)
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Why would you ever want to buy a Dell laptop?
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There was a low priced Linux laptop for sale around Christmas for $279 if I remember correctly. It sold out very quickly, although you could still pick up the version with Windows on it ($329, I believe) for quite some time. There's value in knowing that you're buying a pre-built machine whose components all have Linux support.
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Linux sold great on Dells for many years. They've had some problems with desktop users and Dells but Linux was core to Dell's server business, it allowed them to get rid of their OEM SCO in the early 1990s while still having a strong server presence.
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"Linux machines at dell failed to sell."
There was a lot more to it than just failing to sell.
Never did Dell actually PUSH Linux on their machines. Behind-the-scenes politics blocked that. Had Dell devoted as much as ten percent of their sales efforts to push Linux, sales would probably have been strong. I've browsed their site over the years. Linux was difficult to find, at the best of times. You have to SEARCH for Linux.
Not like Windows, which is the default on every single machine they sell.
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Not necessarily a fair assessment. The linux boxes & no-OS boxes were priced higher than the same builds WITH Windows pre-installed. Why on earth would I pay more money when I can wipe Windows off of a machine in the blink of an eye.
The problem wasn't Linux. It was the pricing scheme.
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The reason for this is that McAfee, Norton, etc. pay $OEM some small amount - say, $1 per machine - to have the base installed system leave the factory with a trial version of their program(s) on it.
This obviously doesn't work well with non-Windows machines, so for the 35 or so crap programs, cripple-ware, trial versions, etc. that would normally be on the system, said $OEM has to get that money back some how....
It would make sense (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft has been dissecting Apples strategy of being a device and os company. Or perhaps they want to be IBM, which does the same thing? A Microsoft stake in Dell might mean an end to Studiobuntu Laptops, though. And I think that would be a shame. Those things are nice.
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Apple is a computer hardware company which moved into consumer electronics and services.
If they really sold software, they'd market MacOS as a Windows replacement. Their strong proprietary model and walled garden has always impaired MacOS's market penetration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems [wikipedia.org].
Their proprietary OS keeps them from being screwed by a third party.
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Holy shit, I've been impressed the past few months. You've gotten past your HOSTS file thing and are actually contributing constructive, on point posts.
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Sigh... And I had such high hopes for you.
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the wonders of adhering to a medication regime...
it's still risky to reply to apk while logged in. if you offend him you'll never hear the end of it.
Yes, unfortunately, my slashdot inbox will be useless for about a month as apk replies to every one of my comments with one of his screeds. I was hoping that this comment (and a few others I've seen of late) were a sign. Turns out this [slashdot.org] is the best sign of how well apk will ever remain mental balanced, useful to a community, and generally speaking, lucid.
Motivation (Score:5, Insightful)
HP is going in the toilet and keeps talking up the post-PC world, taking a page from Apple's playbook. HP Servers are still a great product, but if HP goes under, the Dell becomes almost the lone supplier of Windows enterprise hardware.
Dell has embraced Linux more and more over the years. And they haven't been pushing Windows 8 tablets as much as other companies. Microsoft needs strong hardware partners to push their ecosystem.
If Dell is suddenly controlled by new investors, you have to wonder what direction they'd take the company. It makes sense for Microsoft to want some say in Dell's future to protect their own interests.
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IBM is right behind Dell for open server shipments and Cisco with UCS is fairly big at #5.
Re:Motivation (Score:5, Insightful)
IBM ships lots of servers, but I'm assuming they're shipping most of those with Red Hat, Oracle Linux, or AIX.
I'm not sure IBM is pushing Windows Server so much.
Depends.. (Score:2)
In the contexxt of this discussion, they take Windows very seriously and, IIRC, they still see more revenue from MS related sales than Linux.
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Actually, most of the Enterprise stuff is going towards Blades and VMWare (or XEN or ...) as the Host OS. The Big Iron doesn't count towards Windows Licensing at all, and those are measured in Volume Licensing/CALs anyways.
Even if I'm installing only ONE server, I'm putting VMWARE between the OS and the hardware. Too many advantages to list here, but the top two are, Abstraction away from specific hardware, Backup (Snapshot). Makes recovery a breeze and as painless as your last snapshot.
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True, but I think most people who run Windows shops have been historically buying Dell or HP servers, where as most shops who run IBM hardware have are Unix shops.
Dell and HP sell blade and VMWare solutions,
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Translation: "I am a VMWare jockey who juggles snapshot images as a replacement of package manager, backup, configuration management, intrusion detection, disaster recovery, ongoing maintenance, deployment, and everything else, because I don't know anything but Windows".
Translation: "I'm a snobby know-it-all jerk who thinks he can pinpoint exactly who someone is from a quick snippit/summary statement"
I manage or help manage 100+ servers across 20+ Campuses, including a full DR replecated site, and have proper backups, do proper configurations etc etc etc. They are a wide mix of Windows, Linux (my favorite) and BSD variants. I also do my share of desktop support. I didn't include those points in my original statement, because it wasn't needed. It still isn't needed to make
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What, in your opinion, is a crutch? Don't mention windows in your reply, use general terms. If you mention "windows" or subsititute any word for "Windows" I'll assume you can't define it apart from "windows", making your whole "Windows" usage as a crutch itself. I have a point IF you can define "Crutch" in generic terms.
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I'm not sure WTF you are talking about, but I use VMWare because the management tools are loads better than for XEN.
VMs are very useful to those who also know about all the above mentioned management.
You sound like a tool.
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I'm not sure what tools are on the market for Xen, but if you're interested in open source Virtualization, the direction forward seems to be with KVM. For KVM, there are already very good management tools on the market. RedHat and NetApp have put a lot of weight behind the RHEV/oVirt project. While it isn't as featureful as vSphere, it's very good software, it's open source, and in the case of oVirt, it's free.
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Yeah, that's why a bunch of Linux users wrote XEN and put it out under the GPL. Because they wanted to make better host partitioning for Windows users.
You are an utter frigging moron.
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Of course I have a point, but you don't come here to argue, you come here to make your penis bigger and call people idiots once you realize they're way more intelligent than you are.
Whatever can be done with virtualization, can be done better with host partitioning mechanisms -- this is why they were developed after virtualization, and virtualization was gone from OS design for decades. Just because VMWare spent countless amount of time writing tools for the former instead of latter, does not mean that virtualization is not a dead end in technology development.
I'm sorry the work you do is so unimportant you've never had a use case for full virtualization before. But it's impossible to change your mind on anything because you're an arrogant condescending prick, so either you'll die never understanding it or one day you'll be forced to use it and get the point. There's no use discussing with a child.
Except I do Linux kernel development, and actually know what I am talking about.
Re:Motivation (Score:4, Interesting)
And they haven't been pushing Windows 8 tablets as much as other companies.
On the contrary, I think Dell has been pushing Windows 8 tablets much more than others, with the exception of maybe HP. They have been producing Windows tablet PCs since 2008 with the Latitude XT, which as an okay tablet although decidedly 1st generation and way overpriced. Since then they've released a new version almost yearly, and have done a great job marketing them toward businesses. Their Latitude 10 tablets are some of the more appealing tablets out there (I don't know of many other tablets with a user removable battery), and for full Windows 8 tablets they actually managed to get some sane pricing on them... originally going for $670, but then they added an entry level $580 version. As a tablet PC lover I've been more than happy with Dell's support of this device category.
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The only Windows Tablets I've seen in the wild were used by Dell Geeks at a Dell Conference. That being said, I saw more Galaxy Notes and Nexus 7" (saw a number of Windows 8 Tablets). I can also report more issues seen with Win 8 Tablets than I saw with the other Tablets. Granted, this is all anecdotal evidence, but I am not going to get a Windows 8 Tablet anytime soon. I'd rather have an overpriced iPad ... and that is saying something.
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If Microsoft was serious about being Apple... (Score:2)
They would be in talks with HP. Just sayin'.
When You Absolutely, Positively... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Just sayin'."
When you absolutely, positively want to make sure people reading your post know you are a retard with nothing of value to add.
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errr...could you please say it somewhere else?
So no more linux on dell systems bye sever market (Score:4, Interesting)
So no more linux on dell systems. MS may push there UEFI boot lock in and then say bye bye to a big part of the sever market then.
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Turns out UEFI boot lock isn't the only impediment to other OS's. Ever try setting up a Windows/Linux dual boot on a system with an OEM copy of Windows and a UEFI boot loader - Windows 7 in this case without boot lock 'security'. It's hard - most linux distros can't set it up out of the box, and even those that can require you to be able to boot the installer from the CD/DVD or flash drive in EFI mode - which is iffy, depending on your firmware. It's possible to install in legacy mode - though the system
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UEFI boot lock in
Why did I read that as "MS may push their UEFI boot-lickin' and then say bye bye to a big part of the server market then"? Oh, I guess it's because my screen is just dirty.
A marriage made in hell (Score:5, Funny)
I say go for it. Those two companies deserve each other.
Microsoft needs Dell (Score:5, Interesting)
Dell is the most loyal company to Microsoft of any of the OEM's and they always play ball. Their efforts on *nix support are minimal and they are legendary for the work they will do try to inspire you to run Windows. With Asian OEM's increasingly dis-enfranchised with Microsoft the need for a partner that isn't going go their own way is paramount.
I wouldn't say things are as bad as around a decade ago when Microsoft bailed out Apple to prevent their bankruptcy. That being said I think a fair argument can be made that Microsoft needs Dell more than Dell needs Microsoft. If your surprised about this investment you haven't been in the industry very long.
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Hmmm, well I've been in the industry for a long, long time...and many things have not so much surprised me as simply amazed me.
Like the slow-motion cluster fuck that IBM made of the original PC-PS/2 & DOS-WIN-OS/2 Intel battlefield.
The astonishing demise of DEC (Digital) and HP, innovative engineering-led companies absorbed by the former beige-box cowboys at Compaq, with the final blow dealt by the lovely Carla.
Don't even get me started on Xerox, who actually marketed a full GUI system before Apple. Wo
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I agree with all of your points that you have made, so no arguments there. You certainly sound like you've been in the industry for a 'long, long time'. As for this being a smart move, I'm inclined to call it more of a strategic move by Microsoft than a smart move. The biggest concern from their point is that for many years Dell has been the number one supplier of computers worldwide.
If they fail, or more likely, if they start to fail and shrink as so many computer companies before them have done that is go
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Get your point. Wonder how they'll control the rapid VC boys with only a minority shareholding, tho...
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That is one thing I haven't got a clue on. Understand the industry, sure, understanding how things like that work? Beat's me.
I have seen amazing amounts of control done with minority stakes over the years. It's always baffled just how much control you can have with a minority stake, and I have never understood why and how that works.
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Sounds like a straight up financial deal. The M$ buy in, is just to ramp up the price of Dell. Dell has a real problem going forward, all those ODM's that it uses are now pushing selling direct and Dell simply wont be able to compete. M$ could simply get in and get out with a guarantee by Silverlake to make a good percentage, basically Silverlake paying M$ an appearance fee to help sell Dell.
If M$ go hardware and software, at this point in time they will create a Android, Chrome, Linux storm, with all th
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On a point of pedantry, MS didn't bale Apple out -- Apple still had billions of cash reserve and were no where near bankrupt.
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On a point of pedantry, MS didn't bale Apple out -- Apple still had billions of cash reserve and were no where near bankrupt.
Apple would be nonexistent without Microsoft's support. Microsoft had no competition and needed Apple to survive.
ring ring (Score:5, Funny)
ring ring ..
Dell support this is "John" how may I help you?
Ah hi John, this is Steve at microsoft I'd like to open a support ticket because I'm having trouble transferring $3B as part of a private equity buyout.
OK Steve while I do the needful opening a support ticket I have some tasks for you, I was wondering if you could reboot the computer.
Well John the problem is on your website, I'm trying to paypal you $3M and I'm getting an error message about
Please do the needful Steve and simply click the start button, then shutdown...
No John this is windows 8 there is no start button anymore
Oh so sorry Steve let me pull up the correct script... Ah I see you are needing to restore windows from your install partition, which will reinstall all the crapware and drivers and a unpatched version of windows from 2010 complete with 57 varieties of security hole, but we don't charge extra for that.
OK John (Steve humors John, and fumbles around for his iPad to use instead, pretending just so they can get past the script)
I'm not really sure where to go with this, other than it should probably end with "steve" from microsoft throwing a chair, or "developers develpers developers" or somesuch nonsense.
Re:ring ring (Score:5, Funny)
Wait a minute... how did Steve get past the automated help system to talk to a real person?
Re:Apple investment (Score:5, Informative)
Jobs, on his return, wanted to be rid of all the lawsuits between Apple and Microsoft.
The biggie was the presence of Apple's Quicktime code in Windows (because of a contractor's shortcut).
The end-result of the negotiations was that Apple would keep IE as the default browser, MS would continue to write Office for Mac for at least 5 years and would invest $150Mill in non-voting Apple stock (which they later sold at a profit).
People not knowing the facts simply invented reasons for the investment that suited them.
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And you think MS couldn't have kept the quicktime issue tied up on court for a decade? At a time when Apple had no competitive OS and was hemmorhaging $1B/year? MS's investment restored a ton of confidence in Apple. Without that, things were looking very bleak for Apple.
I think keeping Apple around as the Monopoly foil was very influential in MS's decision to settle with a large investment and promise of upkeep instead of stringing along a floundering company in court.
What would Michael Dell do? (Score:5, Insightful)
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,"
Beware of History it might just repeat itself. (Score:3)
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,"
To be fair that quote was back in 1997 and Apple was $17 a share it has lost 20 times that in the last three months, and that was 4 years before the ipod changed Apple. Steve Jobs had only just returned to Apple...after the buyout of Next.
Ironically the 1995 Steve Jobs complained how Apple milked the Macintosh for profits and left itself vulnerable to disruption and market share collapse...fortunately Apple wouldn't do that again.
Why bother? (Score:3)
If Microsoft wants a PC manufacturing business, why not just finish off the job they have already started and set one up themselves? They already have the product design, retail links and manufacturing capability in place from the Surface Pro, all it would take is launching a desktop or two (and possibly some servers) to flesh out the range and they would be all set to compete with Dell, for far less than $3Bn.
I'm no fan of Microsoft, but I can see big corporate buyers attaching more value to a Microsoft branded PC than an identically specified Dell branded one, on name alone.
The real issue here is the potential for monopoly abuse, Dell's current bulk deal for Windows might already be so good that it would be an unfair subsidy if they were owned by MSFT.
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If Microsoft wants a PC manufacturing business, why not just finish off the job they have already started and set one up themselves? They already have the product design, retail links and manufacturing capability in place from the Surface Pro, all it would take is launching a desktop or two (and possibly some servers) to flesh out the range and they would be all set to compete with Dell, for far less than $3Bn.
I know you have the intellectual ability to perform additions. Would you please perform by yourself these 3-4 million additions by tomorrow for a margin of 0.5% profit?
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1. Microsoft has a very tenuous relationship with their OEM's that can only be balanced with deep discounts for OEM's windows licenses. If Microsoft bought dell tomorrow, wouldn't that put them in substantial channel conflict? One could argue that Samsung's toe waggle with Tizen is a hedge against Google/Motorola locking down the android a market (dumb idea for any involved) and running away like bandits.
2. The desktop market is shrinking (very slowly), and losing one more player from the open playing field
Regulators should never allow this (Score:5, Funny)
Loverock Davidson, is that you? (Score:1)
New Dell Features by Microsoft! (Score:3)
$50 min-remote pc threat worked wonders (Score:4, Interesting)
Dell had threatened to make nice cheap $50 appliance that connected to a host OS in the cloud.
That threat seems to have produced a nice response from the NW.
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AFAIK the device is not available yet, like it's final total cost per desktop.
Clearly MS wants to be faux-Apple (Score:2)
Apple has complete control over their production pipeline, software and hardware.
Microsoft has historically only handled the software part of the pipeline, while letting the OEMs take care of hardware.
Microsoft now looks at Apple and sees that the full-pipe model is viable and wants to cut out the middle man, the OEM.
Instead of building the hardware part of the pipe for themselves, they do things like poison Nokia or take a stake in Dell, because they perceive subversive paths to be cheaper and quicker.
MS w
Not enough to exert control only influence (Score:3)
Apple has complete control over their production pipeline, software and hardware.
Microsoft is not buying Apple, its simply buying a seat on its board [a position of *influence*] with enough money to lock Dell down with Golden handcuffs, so its less building its own hardware...more making sure it sells locked [police state] Microsoft products and does not start selling Android or god forbid tries to do something innovative ironically like completely control their production pipeline, software and hardware...maybe using Linux.
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Zune, Kin, Surface, it all leads here.
If at least one of those was the least bit successful, your argument would be a little bit less ridiculous.
Richmond apples (Score:2)
There could be some shareholder influence into this all. On Dell's part I heard M. Dell aims to get rid off shareholder's pressure for stable quarterly results in order to restructure Dell, and therefore the buyout.
And then I guess Steve "Chair" Ballmer heard that "look at Apple!" too often. They took some inspiration from Cuppertino already and while it was mostly desktop features in the past they now try to copy business model features like controlling both hardware and software.
It's not just mice any mor
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Why can't Dell, the founder of the damn company, convince his board and other shareholders that taking a short-termist view is ultimately contrary to their interests, and that he has no interest in running the company to please day traders and others looking for the stock to make quick quarter-on-quarter gains so that they can dump the stock onto some poor buyers just before it tanks again when it becomes clear that the last huge profit number was a one-off due to some accounting trick that Dell found to em
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Why do you by stock in a company? Or you a "Growth" person - looking for razzle dazzle? Or are you a value person - looking for a nice steady company to invest in.
Dell is currently a "value" company - are so are it's shareholders. Michel Dell wants to flip the company from value to growth - a risk a lot of the current shareholders don't want to take.
Apple and Steve Jobs - you know there is an advantage of returning to a company that was a listing ship and righting it. All of a sudden you are St. Jobs and y
Bye bye Windows 7 (Score:2, Informative)
Windows7 Still Available on Dell Business Machines (Score:2)
The drastic discounts make sense now. (Score:1)
I recently purchased around 50k in Dell servers. Sat on the fence awhile and my rep kept discounting and discounting. Original configurations added up to about 65k, (self configured on the website was much higher). He wanted that end of quarter sale very badly.
As well, I recently investigated Dells new AppAssure backup software. They bought out the original company in Feb I believe. Long story short, I paid 48% of the original quote which was 12k for 7 server / 100 workstation licenses.
I wonder if the push
Makes sense to me.... (Score:2)
Dell and Microsoft have had a long and close business relationship. If Dell ends up going private equity then Microsoft wants a seat at the table, so to speak. My feeling is that Dell has quietly conceded the consumer market to Apple and Samsung. Sure, they still sell in that market but their bread and butter is the corporate market. Just like Microsoft. So Microsoft wants to protect that partnership by having some influence in the direction of a private equity led Dell.
well, this worked out so well. . . (Score:2)
. .. after microsoft invested in Apple.
#amiright?
commercial sense (Score:2)
MS needs companies like DELL and HP because these companies are putting MS product onto business and Govt desktops. Without these companies, Linux and MacOS would get a bigger foot hold in these big buying areas.
Returning to their origins (Score:2)
Blame FOSS (Score:1)
Re:go go private equity! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:go go private equity! (Score:4, Insightful)
That assumes they're not planning on flipping the company in a few years. In that case all long term bets are off, and all they want to do is make the company look good on paper for the next resale. And in my experience, that's the more common case.
Dell may not be a good example of that, since Michael Dell is still involved and presumably still cares about the company that bears his name. But the company I work for has been bought and sold at least 6 or 7 times (most recently last month). And for the first 2 years, the private equity guys talk about how much they 'believe in the business'. After that, every decision makes sense only in the context of a jacked up balance sheet in prep for resale...
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Your claim has not been made evident in recent years. Wall Street had a lot of equity in the housing bubble, for instance. Yet, they continued to drive that bubble into the stratosphere before it finally burst. I have zero faith in the predictions of economists and financial advisors.
It can go either way.. (Score:2)
However, if MS and Michael Dell were the principle private stake holders, I'd imagine it is at least trying to be what you describe: a way to run the damn business with some risk without day traders killing you. MS would undoubtedly be looking to 'be more Apple', and Dell's position in the market is better than MS's current circumstance of starting from scratch...
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Ah the magic of financial innovation (Score:2)
It is borrowed from the company they are going to acquire! They borrow it, and make it an obligation of the company they are about to acquire!
As a result of course to meet the cash flow demands it is all about short-term cost cuts, abandoning R&D and new initiatives, oursourcing, etc.
"Or, is it borrowed by the private equity firms selling new shares in their own companies?"
What? you think the private equity firms risk Their OWN Money? Silly rabbit, risk is what Other People's Money is for.
(Well, they
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Mbkennel is right but is saying it confusingly - and he has a axe to grind.
To put it plainly Dell Inc. will borrow 15b. Initially it will be via banks. Shortly after that they will swap those bank loans for 10 year bonds - probably in the A to AA range.
Borrowing gives the Private Equity more bang for their buck. Assuming a 4 to 1 ratio (Dell is worth 20, they borrow 15 and invest 5) Their returns would quadruple less bond payments - which at 10 p.m. and not wanting to pull up a spreadsheet - I would guess w
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