Dell Goes Private In $24.4 Billion Deal

It’s official, Dell wants to be a private company.  Private equity firm Silver Lake and Michael Dell want to officially acquire Dell, the world’s third-largest PC company, for $13.65 per share in cash in a deal that’s worth about $24.4 billion.

Dell’s board unanimously approved a merger agreement in which Mr. Dell, the company founder and CEO, and Silver Lake will acquire the Texas-based computer company.  Part of the financing includes a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, which has led to much speculation from many people and companies.

Dell has been a Microsoft partner for many years, preloading Windows and other Microsoft software on most of its hardware.  However, most recently Microsoft made the decision to make its move into the tablet-and-smartphone world and stung its hardware partners by manufacturing its own Surface devices.  Now, many of them, including HP, Acer, and Samsung are offering devices that are preloaded with Google’s Chrome OS.  Could this huge loan from Microsoft mean Dell and the software giant will be really good buddies?  I wouldn’t think its such a far fetched idea.