Check out all the on-demand sessions from the Intelligent Security Summit here.
Remember what Michael Dell said when he was asked back in 1997 — when Steve Jobs returned to Apple — what he’d do if he were Jobs?
“I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
Time wounds all heels, I guess. Now Dell might just be finding himself in a roughly similar situation, as Dell Computer has fallen on hard times and high-flying financial vulture Carl Icahn has bought up to six percent of the company with a simple goal: cashing out.
According to CNBC, insiders familiar with the deal said that Icahn will oppose Dell’s leveraged buyout of his company and push for a significant one-time dividend to all shareholders.
Dell shares, which have languished in the $8 range for much of the last six months, are up to $14 this year in response to Dell’s buyout offer — which may include participation by Microsoft — and jumped up another two percent today on the news:
Above: Dell’s stock market value
Dell’s largest shareholder, which owns about 8.5 percent of the company, is reportedly against the buyout and may therefore find common cause with Icahn.
The company reported better-than-expected results in the last quarter of 2012, with $14.31 billion in sales, cash flow of $1.4 billion, and earnings of $0.40 per share.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.
